A farewell kiss from the Iraqi people

December 14, 2023 10:45 AM

An Oral History of the George W. Bush Shoe Throwing, 15 Years Later.
posted by Gerald Bostock (8 comments total)

Full credit to Bush, he dodged those shoes well. Clearly he was a man who had things thrown at him before.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:55 AM on December 14, 2023 [11 favorites]

The fact that dodging a thrown shoe was the single, solitary, price Junior has ever paid for his megadeath scale temper tantrum fills me with despair.

Bush should have been stripped of his entire fortune and reuqired to work for the rest of his miserable life clearing the mines he spread. Instead he retired to luxury and is welcome in civil society including being treated as a decent person by the Democrats.
posted by sotonohito at 11:04 AM on December 14, 2023 [30 favorites]

Many people thought Shrub was a cute painter in addition to being one of the more mediocre presidents of our time.
posted by DJZouke at 12:03 PM on December 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm grateful someone is putting a spotlight on what happened to Al-Zaidi afterward. What he endured is horrible.
posted by EvaDestruction at 12:19 PM on December 14, 2023 [9 favorites]

Powerful article with great context. Thanks for sharing.
posted by dobi at 1:25 PM on December 14, 2023

A war criminal rehabilitated by lavish press stories about him painting portraits of men who fought in his wars.
posted by constraint at 1:38 PM on December 14, 2023 [3 favorites]

thank you for posting, GB

I try to imagine being this brave man.. even how he describes the thoughts any one of us would have: "why do this? I can not do this, it would be so easy to not do this" and yet he threw the shoe, then the other shoe, and paid the price. but he will live his life not wondering, that's for sure
posted by elkevelvet at 4:03 PM on December 14, 2023 [2 favorites]

I know this guy was insulting Bush, but to a westerner, the whole shoe as insult thing is kind of amusing. I remember the narrative at the time was that folks from these part of the world are "below" us due to their treatment of women and hothead tempers.
The fact Bush didn't seem bothered by it made it all the worse. The guy was a total and utter joke.
.
posted by greatalleycat at 7:42 AM on December 15, 2023