I know yesterday’s post was spiritual and full of peace and love and today’s post appears to be full of snark and snot – but what can I say – I am a complicated woman.
My pal SPARTACUS posted that the shelf life of this story is over but I just can’t help myself.
I was thinking about how I truly dislike violence. I was thinking about how I respect the Office of the President. And so I thought I really didn’t find any humor in shoes being thrown at my President.
But wait …
That asshole isn’t my President. He’s just the ignorant arrogant yahoo I’ve been stuck with for 8 years.
And so it was funny again. Not funny ha-ha – but funny in the way you need to laugh at a funeral or in the ER waiting room. You just have to – cause if you don’t – you’ll take to throwing shoes of your own.
Now it’s a shame poor little Dana (I’m so perky while I spew lies) Perino got a black eye in the melee but think about it – a black eye, how appropriate for this administration. Their mere existence is a black eye on the planet.
No one ever got killed by a shoe so I don’t feel that I’m making jest of a dangerous situation. Had it been a deadly weapon then clearly innocent people (Iraqi journalists) could have been hurt and that’s an entirely different story.
But innocent people did get hurt – thousands and thousands of them – as the shoe throwing young man said. He threw those shoes as a sign of contempt for the “dog” who invaded his country. Seems fair to me.
Still-President Bush (thanks Jon Stewart) really needs to just stay home. Sit around the White House and take photos with the big shiny tree. Go to Camp David for the last time and see if he can find his way back from the tennis courts all on his own. Or just go back to where he spent most of his Presidency – the Crawford ranch.
What he should not do is stand around in the middle of the gigantic human disaster he created smiling and behaving as though he can spell diplomacy, let alone practice it.
He just pisses off the people whose lives he has forever altered. He puts our soldiers in even more danger.
For the love of all that is good can’t he just shut the fuck up and lay low. He already got away with murder – what more does he want? A library? A legacy?
There aren’t enough shoes on the planet.
42 comments:
Alas, I think the answer to your last question is "yes." And I think he actually doesn't really get or care about the harm he's done. All he cares about is his bloody (literally) legacy. And you notice how they have all started making somewhat pretend regretful statements about the intelligence. I think they know they may be put on trial and they are trying to set up a preliminary defense.... "we were just innocent victims of bad intelligence..." Grrr. I wish the whole room full of reporters had thrown shoes... not to hurt him physically... I'd say I wish the American Press would throw shoes too, but they colluded with him... they could do with having some shoes thown at them too. WOuldn't it be cool if when we had to (if there is such a thing) wage war, we threw shoes at each other? Or had a big pie fight...
While I completely agree that Bush is to put it mildly, an idiot, the great shoe incident did nothing but create more violence in a nation already plagued by it. Do I think the journalist was justified in his hatred? Absolutely. Did he do his people any favors by his actions. That's certainly debatable.
The radicals are once again inflamed and marching the streets with their Fuck America banners flying. I wonder how this helps a nation?
I also wonder why Bush thought a trip to the country he invaded was going to have any sort of impact other than to promote more violence.
What a travesty this whole thing has been and continues to be.
Well, you've done it again, Dianne. You've said exactly what I've been thinking, and said it so much better than I could have.
I have never been able to tolerate the sight of him and that smirk, on TV. Now, when it's accompanied by words indicating that he is so very pleased with himself for what he has "accomplished", I want to scream - and possibly throw shoes at him. Someone just make him stay home and shut up!
I'd respectfully disagree. When the shoe is on the other foot next term, I won't be throwing any at Obama, much as I dislike the man. I think we should all be respectful of the office of the president, whatever we may think of Bush's relative skill in the position.
And I do disagree with some of Bush's policies, that's for sure.
:]
Certainly, we can criticise him. But I think it makes us all more unsafe and tempts politicians to tamper with the Constitution further when stuff like this happens. JMO, but I hope this and worse does NOT happen to Obama. He would be a symbol of our nation and the peaceful election process.
raven - the article I mention from cbcnews.ca talked about how Bush making light of the shoe throwing was yet another example of his total lack of understanding of the culture. when they tore down the Sadam Hussein statues they beat them with their shoes - it is a clear cultural sign of contempt. Instead he makes jokes. He just should not have been there!
jeff - I agree - sort of - lol
the anger and frustration over how this man has destroyed their country must be beyond comprehension for many people there. and to sit there and watch him smile and smirk and congratulate himself must require control of super human proportions.
I remember right after 9/11 I was at the Red Cross tent delivering some food and many of the firefighters needed constant psychological counseling to control their rage. To many people in Iraq Bush is a terrorist - fair or not - I happen to think it is a fair assessment.
and yes!!!!! he should not have been there - regardless of what anyone feels about that journalist or the war or Iraq overall - if for no other reason than - he put our soldiers in more danger. he just never looks beyond his own moment - stupid and arrogant. the Daily Show had a clip of him having a photo op with a bunch of soldiers. they were clearly trying to NOT be the one he was standing next to. a young man who used to work for me is over there - again - and he says there is a strong feeling of being used and that many soldiers try to be somewhere else during Bush visits so as not to have swallow their anger and be respectful - which of course they are. again - he creates more harm than good.
Have you read Margaret and Helen?
Thanks for the link Dianne. I share Muntader al-Zaidi's shoe tossing angst, but while my reasons for tossing footwear pales was driven by hatred for a certain act, I can't lose sight of the fact one million of al-Zaidi's compatriots died as a result of Bush's actions. To some extent, I agree with Mrs. C's assertion that the office of the Presidency should be respected. However, this respect must not only come from the electorate, but from the person holding that office.
bobbie - yes - just stay home. do the American interviews if he has to - I can almost sit through them for the comedic value. but don't travel around the world - it's starting to get better out there - Obama already has enough mess to clean up - don't make it worse.
mrs c - If violence had been directed at Mr. Bush then I would not have a frivolous attitiude about it. I will simply hope that fate and a greater power will give him what he deserves.
I can't really argue the rest - it is impossible for me to compare Bush and Obama - or Bush and any President for that matter.
bobbie - I don't get over there often enough - I have to!!
spartacus - and once again you bring up a point I neglected to cover - this is 2 days in a row you have done that :)
Bush has so diminished the office. and I have never believed in respect not earned - and he certainly has not earned it.
This was merely a situation where the Bush the idiot returned to the scene of the crime and caught a bit of retaliation from a disgruntle shoe.
Bush is so delusional that he probably thought he was visiting the site of his greatest achievement as President. I'm sure he's shocked to find that there are people over there that don't like him.
queen size funny bone - I am glad it was just a shoe - had it been worse more innocent people would suffer because of this moron.
jay - I do believe he was expecting to be greeted as a hero - sad - for us and them - I feel nothing for him but disgust. I am so looking forward to the coverage of his last day, I wonder if they will need to hire actors to feign sincere goodbyes.
Hooray for shoes! and I agree totally, why doesn't he shut the fuck up and go sit in a corner somewhere -- out of sight!
. "I don't know what the guy's cause was. I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it." W’s assessment of the incident. He still doesn’t get it.
But for millions who have lost family members and been displaced by the US occupation the shoe thrower has become a hero. Expressing their utter rage and despair at the arrogance and ignorance that has devastated their lives. I can only imagine. Thanks for bringing up the cultural significance of the act - it is easily missed. Personally, I think the reporter showed restraint.
I say throw shoes, not bombs!
sylvia - I don't even mind if he occupies himself with ceremonial crap - pose with Barney, take pictures with carolers, just stop causing any more pain.
Jon Stewart was begging 'please can't we have the other guy - NOW!'
gabrielle - as usual the mainstream media doesn't f'ing explain things to the average American and the average American doesn't do their homework so of course the meaning of the shoes gets lost. rather than understanding the heartbreak of these people many Americans are getting caught up, as usual, in what it means to them, about them, for them - because that is what their 'leader' has told them
Granny Annie - I am sorry it hurt you, I truly am. The soldiers who died in Iraq were not sent there to free anyone, they were sent there to line the pockets of Cheney's business connections and to shore up the Saudi financial connections of the Bush family. That shoe was not for them, it was for the man it was thrown at - period.
If anyone should be ashamed of how our soldiers have been treated it is the people who thought so little of them - Bush and Cheney and Rumsfield and Rice and ...
Clearly Sadam Hussein was a terrible ruler - but there are terrible rulers all over the world. There is bloodshed and suffering beyond comprehension in many parts of Africa yet we do nothing to unseat those tyrants - in fact we support China who in turn supports the genocide.
And when our soldiers come back after being sent to Iraq more times than is legal their benefits are cut by the very same man who sent them there. And heaven knows I have not even addressed the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens who have suffered. Refugees are not being cared for and those who helped the soldiers are not being given the asylum they were promised - they are being left to protect themselves and their families - just as the first Bush President did during his war. I respect your opinion and believe you're a soft hearted lady but please - do not believe all you're told by this current President. By any President for that matter.
Peace Granny Annie
He difinitely f****d-up again with his trip to Iraq. He needs to take a freaking vacation until January. I'm not surprised about the shoe throwing. I'm surprised they did not throw anything heavier.
/clap
/agree
I think my fave was "Bush gets the boot" even if it wasn't a boot,it made me laugh.
If the shoe had not been thrown, this trip would have been a blip on the radar...now it is an international event...
Mr. Bush just needs to ride off into the sunset
Once again I applaud your perfect post ... didya head Cheney's reaction? He thought W had some good moves .. when asked why Gitmo is still there he replied something like 'then there'd be gazillions of AlQueda terrorists in America'
I wish this man a vacation in Alaska where hopefully someone shooting animals from a helicopter while looking at Russia accidently shoots him.
Bah Humbug .. the 21st of Jan cannot come too soon
ivanhoe - does this mean your laptop is home!!
I'm glad he wasn't hurt - it would only have been used to cause more horror. It would be nice if he fell on his head all on his own though ;)
kay - the late night shows were having a field day - Letterman had shoes thrown at him every time he said a word and my favorite - Craig Ferguson - had a fantastic monolog
bond - good point! I hadn't considered that but again - the frustration of the people there at the gall he has to appear as a friend and hero!! good lord!
daryl - I like the hunting idea!! wouldn't it be fantastic if Sarah somehow managed to do to Bush what Cheney did to his lawyer - how poetic
Cheney is on a full out publicity tour now - he has suddenly come out of his bunker to explain himself in glowing terms. I didn't hear the Gitmo quote but today he said how pleased he was that his work will make things so much easier for the Obama team.
Tell-me-a-bout-it! And the same day we get a smirky "So?" and a "So what?" from Bush and from Cheney...I wanted to throw something, too, AFTER I ripped their lips off.
Nope, laptop is still at Geek's Squad. I think it might have been a defective unit. I should know by Friday :o) I'm at work...shhhh... don't tell anybody ;o)
Well, at least he wasn't left waiting for the other shoe to fall. Sorry-just couldn't resist. Malawi (or whatever his name is) seemed to be enjoying the moment immensely.
deborah - Cheney especially - he loves every dirty deed he did and he knows he got away with it
I'd love to see a old time paddy wagon pull up to the White House and have them all do the perp walk
ivanhoe - I promise not to tell and no one else will either ;)
betty - malawi (or whatever) does look like he's giggling inside lol
Still president Bush took a flight
to check in on demolished Iraq
While blustering about the end of the fight
He was subjected to a shoe attack
He proved most agile in dodging a shoe
But why should we be surprised?
He's spent 8 years dodging the truth
And was always unwilling to apprise
His country and the world at large
of his agenda and motives carnal
And left the economy and many lives
In a house that can only be described as Charnel
So it seems to me that Karma came
and showed us this ridiculous man
Who in the end turned out so lame
As only a moron of his caliber can
This was merely a reaction that was long time coming for these people.
"There arent enough shoes on the planet"
Lol ;)
I gotta say I watched this more than once... ;)
What cracks me up is in the video of him after the shoes been thrown..with his hair all dishevelled pretending as if he doesnt care that someone just threw their shoes at him...
I'm a big Jon Stewart/Stephen colbert fan also..
Much love my friend, M
Lotsa love, M
Retired high heels. I knew there was a purpose. For the governor that presided over the most executions and callously mocked a condemned person's plea for mercy. And for all the suffering and pain that ensued in the senseless wars waged during hid imperial presidency.
There is a buzz about people leaving their shoes on the white house lawn and distributing them to those who are barefoot. I hope this comes to pass. Shoes are for walking.
I personally believe that full and unconditional withdrawal of all American assets from Iraq, including monetary, should immediately and swiftly commence.
bush, is the biggest horses ass since Hoover to hold the office but he was not there as bush but rather as President of the United States of America and as such that shoe was thrown at you and me.
We have mortgaged beyond measure another generation of American children for the Iraqi peoples. Do they see that? Fuck no. Are their lives worth more than the lives of America's children? Can you imagine the outcry if the roles in this were reversed?
And the acclaim this unprofessional rogue reporter who inserted himself into the news is the thanks given to them who in fact freed them to continue on in their own ill advised way on my tax dollar.
Has their life been disrupted beyond any measure they were prepared for...yes absolutely but it was they that rioted and looted all of their government offices and palaces, which threw their society into the greater disorder then any American war planner could have foreseen.
When they had the opportunity to lay down arms, they did not, thereby escalating an already deplorable situation and costing an additional 4500 children of America their lives and God alone knows how many of their own citizenry and other children of other nations as well.
The insult of the shoe is culturally more significant than a middle finger thrown up for the sake of defiance towards a despicable man, it is a physical act, like pissing on someone is a physical act. I for one do not like to be pissed on. And as them who march in favor of the dog who threw the shoe; as a society they are saying they no longer want nor deserve my tax dollars to support their callous disregard of what has been delivered them; freedom to throw shoes, to piss on America.
Are things worse in Iraq now than before bush and cheney sent troops in? Yes they are but, statistically it is about 20% worse. They had trouble keeping themselves alive in the face of a repressive government. They had trouble delivering medicine, electricity, food and water before the wrongful invasion, yet we are the ones who are now blamed for all that they themselves didn't accomplish prior to 2003. They are their own impediment to a resolution of their own infrastructure deficiencies.
As you say Dianne, Hussein was one among many terrible dictators in the world and from the start I have never thought that this invasion was anything but the actions of fools. But for this insult and all of the rest of them they have delivered over the course of the last five years, I say that Iraq can go straight to whatever hell they want, just not on the lives of our citizens or money anymore.
richard - so very wonderful are you!
anndi - and considering what could have happened this was so mild - it never ceases to amaze me that Americans don't get that the US invaded Iraq. We invaded them!! No noble cause, no proof of a threat, nothing ...
we invaded them!!
gabrielle - how wonderful it would be for there to be a sea of shoes on the white house lawn!!
all of them with their dirty soles facing up - the ultimate sign of contempt
do you remember the show Murphy Brown? when she sent a truck load of potatoes to Dan Qualye's door!!
mark - I can see you feel strongly about this and I never question your research on things - you are always so thorough. I don't feel that shoe was thrown at me - I know it sounds naive but I think there is very little human difference between me and the average Iraqi citizen.
Was the journalist unprofessional? yes
Is Iraq a clusterfuck of incompetence and corruption? yes
Was it that way before we invaded? yes - and in some ways it was probably worse.
I imagine that, on the ground level, our soldiers want nothing more than to help and I believe most Iraqi citizens know that.
We are all victims of people on both sides who have no right to lead and those people all need more than shoes thrown at their heads.
maithri - I got myself out of order, that's what happens when you're awake at 3AM waiting for a client across the ocean to make a simple decision ;)
Bush doesn't care - sad but true. I hope your day is going well
I still think it's going to encourage security silliness. You don't want to be nekkid when you meet President Obama, do you?
Don't answer that. LOL Too much community activism can be a bad thing. :]
mrs c - I will admit to a bit of a crush on Prez O lol
it's been so long since there was someone intelligent in the white house and smart is sexy
the security around him is already higher than any other President in history and that has far more to do with racism than with a shoe thrown across the world
I agree, Dianne. Um, about the racism part anyway LOL. I've even heard of lotto-type pools where people put in when they think he'll be assassinated. SICK. Just sick.
mrs c - one of the negatives of the internet tubes is that you can discover just how perverse some people are! But I try my best to breeze past them and stick with all the good there is to offer.
It occurred to me that the reflexes of the Secret Service agents at Bush's shoe throwing episode weren't 'all that' (as the kids say) - the second shoe was well on its way and still no one was in front of him - and when they did react they hurt poor little Dana. I read it's being investigated ...
Grrreat post, Dianne!
And just where is Imelda Marcos when ya need her???
Love a woman with some snark...
(;-})
border - could you imagine!! that crazy woman could have become a cult hero - timing is everything
rambling - thanks :)
I needed that
mark - right back at ya bro
BRAVO, BRAVA, My Dear!
And he should stop trying to put in ALL sorts of "regulations" for his cronies benefit before he doesn't have the power anymore.
He has NO concionce what-so-ever...He does NOT know Right From Wtong....He is a Sociopath!
PLEASE fo toi Crawford for Christmas and New Years and leave your PEN at Home! HE IS A DISASTER!
Yea, Dianne, You are absolutely right! He can't be gone too soon! Hurry up January 20th! :)
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