The Big Cajones Award

Sunday, December 14, 2008
It seems that an Iraqi journalist is not pleased with the policies of President Bush, and expressed his displeasure by throwing his shoes at the President during a press conference in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The reporter, Muntadar al-Zaidi, threw the shoes and shouted, "This is a farewell kiss!" Evidently throwing shoes at someone is a terrible insult in Iraqi culture.

Well.

I'm no friend to GWB or his policies, but I have to say this guy has bigger cajones than me. Perhaps it's my military background, but I would never consider physically attacking the President.

Of course, I also lack perspective - my country has not been overrun by foreign invaders ostensibly there to "free me," resulting in a breakdown in the rule of law and a lack of public services. Given those circumstances, I might be tempted to throw my pumps, too.

But not the Jimmy Choo's.

8 comments:

Nathan said...

1st reaction: GWB's got way better reflexes than I would have expected.

2nd reaction: Cajones? I don't care how much of an asshat our President of the moment happens to be; throwing shit at him buys you at least a serious ass-kicking. I'll be interested in hearing about the aftermath.

WendyB_09 said...

I noticed the "pitcher" was helped to the floor immediately and subsequently escorted from the room. I suspect the ass-kicking commenced as soon as they were out of the room.

And GWB's followup comment: everything was ok, and for the record it was a size 10.

But just how bad do you have to be that people in other countries start throwing things at you??? Guess his approval rating is lower over there than it is at home. Which is pretty damn hard to do!!
WendyB_09

Anonymous said...
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Janiece said...

*TONG*

Janiece said...

Nathan, I think it's disrespectful, too, which is why I commented that I'd never do it.

And yes, the Washington Post said the beating commenced immediately.

Steve Buchheit said...

And he's now a folk hero to the Iraqis. Go figure.

What I want to know is, why didn't his Secret Service detail jump in front and take the shoe for him? I guess we know how the SS view the current president.

Eric said...

NPR mentioned something about a trail of blood being left behind the shoe-thrower. So the beatdown was, as Janiece says, pretty immediate.

I have to say this for Bush: he reacted with good humor to it.

By way of perspective, if you hadn't already heard/didn't already know: the feet are considered particularly dirty in traditional Islamic culture. This wasn't merely like the time Vice-President Nixon was pelted with eggs and vegetables in Peru--this was the cultural equivalent of throwing urine on President Bush.

Yep. A well-respected gentleman, our President is. He did it to himself, I'm sorry to say.

Thirty-six more days, if I'm counting right....

Eric said...

Moments after leaving that comment, I saw this, which is really funny and worth looking at.

My favorite is the Austin Powers-Random Task one, fifth from the top.