For a moment I laughed and wanted to cheer when I heard this news. I was glad that someone had the cojones to stand up to Bush and push back for once.
What a fool I was for that moment.
Obviously It is despicable to use Violence as the means to an end in Politics ( I just know there is a word for this, just can't remember it. ), and even though Pres. George Bush Jr is an incompetent stupid jerk he is still a human being. No person should ever be threatened with violence for any reason. This concept alone is what seperates the civil person from the criminal.
All the same though, we should all thank whatever it is you thank (God, Scientology alien ghosts, Joe Pesci) that Bush dodged this international incident. (I know, fiction writers couldn't make this up. )
Here's why
Can you imagine what the Wingnuts would have done if Bush got brained by a flying shoe. A flying shoe thrown at him by a foreigner, a foreign journalist no less.
I can not imagine how the Republican base would react, nor do I care to try. I can imagine there would be no limit to how far the Republican White House would go to respond. Even with only a month left in office Bush would launch a whole new offensive or something as equally crazy.
If this flying loafer (Not Bush, I mean the shoe) connected with W's cranium it would have given the GOP a perfect rallying point to whatever direction they wanted to go. It's not like the GOP really needs a true reason to justify its actions, could you imagine what they would attempt if they had something like this to carp on.
Not only would Middle East/Western diplomacy take a huge hit, America would lose respect and standing all over the world. I know, I know, been there, done that, but this is beyond the pale. Our President gets shoes chucked at him wherever he goes? Like his Dad's upset stomach wasn't the worst public embarrasment a Presidential family dynasty could try to have.
This shoe would have taken focus off of the economic change we need, it would have distracted the public's attention from every major progressive issue we care about, and it would have definitely generated some ridiculous reaction from the outgoing White House that would just be another mess for Obama to clean up before he can even get started.
So, I for one breathed a sigh of relief as I watched Pres Bush duck an issue during a press conference for what I hope to be is the last time EVER. It is wrong to throw shoes at George W. Bush. Really soon we won't even need to. We'll have his legacy for that.
UPDATE : Thank you everyone for the feedback, I hope you enjoyed reading my insomnia inspired non-sense. For the record I personally feel that even though I think Bush deserves to be hit with a shoe once a day for the rest of his life, generally throwing shoes at people is socially uncool. Even if they are wingnuts. Besides, Bush probably wouldn't understand why you were hitting him in the first place.