And the guy throwing the shoes made a typical rookie mistake that righties often do; he pulled the pitch down and left. A good follow-through is critical and getting a proper bend to the back helps with the delivery. Credit Bush for getting out of the way of a weakly thrown beanball.
Seriously though, Bush is still our President, and it bothers the hell outta me that his security detail couldn't prevent the guy from getting a second shot off! Good thing White House spokesperson Dana Perino was there to use her face to block the attack, or the nutcase might have balled up his socks and thrown them next!
But somebody better school the security guys in basic response to a threat; don't forget in about a month we're gonna have a new President that we absolutely need to keep safe! Because right now, they're doing about as good a job as Anwar Sadat's protectors did.
"Who throws a shoe? Honestly!"(Random Task is on the loose!)
21 comments:
Bush acted like he was the target for a charity pie-throwing game. Why is he so unconcerned? He ducks slightly and then comes right back up and stares at the shoe-pitcher, both times. Did this hurler win a raffle or something.
oldswede
Judging from how awful they've been doing with their deal making lately, I'll be surprised if the Mets don't sign the guy for middle relief.
According to bloomberg.com, throwing shoes is special for Arabs:
"In Arab culture, throwing shoes is a grave show of disrespect. 'This is the farewell kiss, you dog,' the man shouted in Arabic."
I guess this isn't the docile, fawning press corps that Bush is used in the US.
More from bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aabFVZj4gc4g&refer=home
oldswede
Hitting a person on the head with one's shoe is the arabic equivalent to spitting in your opponent's face. (Remember the CNN video of Saddam's statue being brought down?)
I personally feel this unnamed assailant did in his way what millions of Americans wish they were allowed to do now.
George Bush's entire Iraq adventure can be summed up with the following analogy: if you know your house has termites, do you burn the house down? Sure, you can eventually build a better house without the termites, but in the meantime, it'll be a bitch to live there. Worse yet, do you burn someone else's house down?
Probably, Cheney tasked Bush's Secret service detail on a last-ditch effort to find those elusive WMD's ("They gotta be SOMEWHERE around here!")
Let's hope they do a better job protecting Obama. If that had been a bomb they would all be cinders.
And yes, that is MiddleEastern for "Fuck You, You Fucking Fuck". I gather this was right after that lame-o speech where he said how the American people had suffered. (It ws on C-Span)
It's a real shame the thrower wasn't machine gunned on the spot.
Think about it, we simply can not allow attacks on our presidents, period.
It wasn't Bush, it was the President and next month it'll be Obama.
The last thing we need, is to make anyone else a martyr like JFK has become.
Attacking a U.S. President should result in a fast and fatal response.
Jeez ACR, I think wildly machine gunning in the direction of a guy who threw his Bruno Maglis at Bush might be a tiny bit overdoing it. Especially considering the dozens of innocent journalists who surrounded the nut and were helping to apprehend him. Hell, if that happened we could've lost Dana Perino!
I'm much more concerned about how the Secret Service reacted with the total lack of speed that JFK's ancient driver displayed in Dealey Plaza after the first shot rang out.
This meeting was in Maliki's office. The Secret Service was probably not deployed because it was the responsibility of the Iraqi's to provide security. It's their turf, allegedly.
Just shows how much these guys have learned under American tutelage.
If this had been a presser by Saddam, well . . .
oldswede
That is the finest example of Iraqui Freedom I could imagine. Freedom to throw ones shoes at the
decider to free him. J.C. Sr.
P.S. Put that in your inglorius legacy.
>> I think wildly machine gunning
Hmmmm, I take it you're not much with firearms Bob?
Where did "wildly" come from?
The whole point is to hit what you aim at and nothing else.
Hell, my late sister could do a nice cluster with a pistol fired out of (right through actually) a handbag. (Her husband was a cop, a competitive shooter and taught her well enough that my father was impressed.)
My mother carried until she was 85 too.
McCain (or for that matter Palin) would probably have dropped the guy themselves - I'm both surprised and disappointed that George didn't. (He probably hasn't carried since he got elected, a mistake on his part.)
>>how the Secret Service reacted with the total lack of speed that JFK's ancient driver
Kennedy was a goner right away, it was after all a head shot.
That said, you or I would have floored it and left rubber.
ACR -
The simple fact is -- BULLETS DO NOT DISCIMINATE BETWEEN THE INNOCENT AND THE GUILTY... they just go in the direction they're shot.
Using your scenario, an Iraqi who was angry about what America did to his country (God can only figure out why) chose to use an uniquely Arabic method to show his displeasure (Again, where do these Iraqis get off using their own customs in their own country?). So we should loose the machine guns, on him, figuringf the others around him who most certainly would be wounded or killed are just "collateral damage".
Yeah sure, buddy....you bethcha that's real bation building.
(Or did I miss a page here, like I missed the skip from "We can't wait until a mushroom cloud" from Iraq, to "Saddam was a bad man")
>> they just go in the direction they're shot.
Oh good - another "marksman" heard from.
Anyone in here ever even fired a gun?
Geesh.
Trust me people.
If someone in this country tried a stunt like that with say, the Queen of England; the boys from Scotland Yard would pop them on the spot.
Probably before anyone from our Secret Service even knew she was in town.
(She actually spent a weekend in Roxbury, CT around 1989 or `90 - her American hosts home was surrounded by armed British agents the entire time. British Police don't carry firearms but the detail assigned to the Queen does.)
Gee, ACR,
Maybe these security people are well-trained and smart enough to realize that there was no threat.
Instead of blasting into a very crowded area, they responded by swarming the culprit. No body dead, only Dana bruised.
This sounds like a much better outcome than some kind of hot-shot cowboy shoot-out. I suppose you can drop a Apache from a hundred yards out while galloping on your white stallion. Those little stories about marksmanship are crap. I especially gag at that lie about shooting accurately through a handbag. Bullshit. I calling you a liar.
oldswede
>> calling you a liar.
I love how liberals pull that nonsense from the safety of behind their keyboards.
It's so chickenshit.
Any Yarmouth, Mass cop that was around in the late 1960's up to the early fall of 1971 when she died at 26, could and would tell you, it's true.
My sister Nancy practiced and practiced and practiced; and could do a decent grouping with her Browning pistol, from the hip in a handbag.
It made sense.
A woman probably would never have a chance to get a pistol out of her bag anyway, might as well learn to shoot it from inside.
She didn't much care; but it made her husband happy.
Nothing much was going on on the Cape in those days anyway; she certainly never needed to use it.
Heck, her husband only took his service gun out of the holster once because he "needed to" in 30 years as a cop; and that time he neither pointed it nor shot it.
He did win a lot of shooting competions though.
It's always better when cops can shoot straight.
I didn't mean for this to become a big debate on firearms; in fact, I'm a gun owner and have a CT pistol permit. I just mentioned that firing a machine gun in a crowded press conference might not be the best strategy for the SS to use in response to a loafer being tossed at W. That's all.
What I would have rather seen was them leap up in front of the President and take the second shoe themselves.
And according to the Warren report, it was the third shot that blew off JFK's head. The dumb bastard driving had at least 6 seconds to react and he was probably too busy lighting a cigarette or something to mash down on the accelerator.
To be precise, the period of time between Oswald's first accounted shot (which went through Kennedy's chest) and his last (which hit his skull) was 5.6 seconds. The exact number of shots was never determined (possibly 4 or more), but three shots were accounted for.
Incidentally, the fastest time that Oswald's rifle could be shot, re-bolted, aimed, and accuratly re-shot -- by DBI marksmen -- was 2.3 seconds. Just some historical fun-fact trivia.
And, for the record, I have been on BOTH sides of a bullet, so cut the macho bullshit.
>>And, for the record, I have been on BOTH sides of a bullet, so cut the macho bullshit.
???????????????????????????
Uh...review my posts and kindly cite any "macho Bullshit".
I've never even brought up being on the other side of an idiot with a pistol when I owned a C-store 30 years ago.
I'm no "tough guy" nor have I ever pretended to be. Ask Bob, I'm just a warm friendly guy that wouldn't hurt a flea.
Let's see...Hmmm.....
"Chickenshit", "liberals hiding behind the safety of their keyboards", "Anyone...fired a gun?"
(These just for the nonce)
Such statements carry the implicit corollaries that (a) you are not "chickenshit" (which - based on your past posts - I can accept); (b) Liberals ARE "chickenshit" (which I must reject: I for one do NOT separate my opinions from my identity, and I have been a proud liberal Democrat since I first registered to vote in the early 1970's); and (c) people must have fired a weapon before they can have a legitimate opinion regarding the subject (I have not had an abortion, nor have I entertained the possibility of getting married to another man, but I do have definite & well-informed opinions on these issues.) These, IMHO, represent macho bullshit.
Though I disagree with some of your viewpoints, I have found you to be intelligent and your opinions thought provoking (aside from your "regrettable choice" in mooning over "Pistol-Packin' Palin"). I do suppose, though, that your late sister did her part in keeping the handbag industry in New England afloat.
(On a more serious note: I too, lost a sister far too early. I'm sure memories of your sister - such as though you relate here - keep her in your thoughts. The same works for me, though the loss never seems to lighten.)
Remember when Reagan was shot? The videos showed that some of the Secret Service formed a shield around him and others tackled Hinckley. Hinckley had fired his gun in their direction and some of the agents had their Uzis out, but did not fire at him. Two attempts with guns were made on Gerald Ford. Both perps were taken into custody.
My grandfather, my father and my father-in-law were police officers. I grew up with gun training and I never met a cop who would fire into a crowd hoping to hit one individual. They consider that insanely irresponsible, even criminally negligent.
No matter how much practice they have, the likelihood of hitting the wrong person is way to high. Plus, some of the ammunition will penetrate at least one body.
The British are right to surround the queen with armed guards since the Brits pissed off so many in the world with their Imperial ways. But it is mainly bombers they are watching for. Britain does not have a gun culture like the US. No NRA nuts over there.
oldswede
Bob Symmes said...
>>"Chickenshit", "liberals hiding behind the safety of their keyboards", "Anyone...fired a gun?"
(These just for the nonce)
A little selective are we?
The above was in response to:
Bullshit. I calling you a liar.
Now then; I don't post that sort of crap and when I backed it up no-less, no apology.
Sorry - I simply don't deal with those of no personal sense of honor.
What is this, Compuserve shortly after the AOL takeover when the 14 year olds suddenly discovered going online?
Calling someone a liar online is in fact the ultimate chickenshit stunt and only done by truly committed cowards.
You knew that already didn't you?
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