Posted on 12/15/2008 11:13:24 AM PST by llevrok
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was slightly bruised in the aftermath of the shoe-throwing melee at President Bush's news conference at the Prime Minister's Palace in Baghdad on Sunday, a senior administration official said.
But Perino will be fine and is continuing with the presidential party, the official said.
Perino was hit in the face with a microphone as security wrestled with the reporter, NBC News reported.
The White House transcript from the news conference labels the incident an "audience interruption."
President Bush said. "Okay, everybody calm down for a minute."
Then, indicating Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the president continued: "First of all, thank you for apologizing on behalf of the Iraqi people. It doesn't bother me. And if you want some if you want the facts, it's a size 10 shoe that he threw. (Laughter.) Thank you for your concern, do not worry about it."
The president then brushed off a question from a reporter who was asking about the greater meaning of the fracas.
"So what if a guy threw a shoe at me?" Bush asked.
It's ironic that the president would be pummeled in such a controlled setting, when the White House took elaborate, James-Bond-like precautions to ensure he landed in secret.
Air Force One left the Washington area on Saturday night, and Bush and his aides are scheduled to return Monday. His presence in Iraq was not reported until Sunday morning Eastern time.
"The fans are standing up to them....The security guards are standing up to them....The peanut vendors are standing up to them...And by golly, if I could get down there, I'd be standing up to them!"
‘He was the one that said, “I’ll give you 5 bucks if you throw your shoes at Bush.”’
Wouldn’t doubt it.....the guy looks like Michael Moore.
Pinging 4integrity to your #60.
Good thing security made him change out of his stilettos.
Shoeless Akmed looks like someone from the protests in London series.
Not Sadr City, except maybe just on general principles, this loony’s a Sunni.
That picture vividly shows the muslim lunatics we are up against. Good grief, he is absolutely unhinged from reality. He would behead an infidel without a shred of remorse. This is one of the millions of muslim devils we must keep fighting against. They are so highly motivated by hate. Evidence of true evil walking the earth.
Confucius said:
Never throw a shoe at a man who can throw megatons back at you.
The video of this assault was astounding. That lunatic muslim whipped one shoe and then the second, at a high rate of speed and with very good accuracy. The Prez had very quick reflexes and dodged this sneak attack very well. This was an assault, not just a little incident. I hope the perp gets a real good Chicago Tune-Up and spends years in prison for assaulting our President.
Well - if it makes you feel any better, some Iraqis don’t support the guy. (My favorite part is where he “crys like a girl”!):
http://www.gulf-news.com/region/Iraq/10267331.html
“....Parliamentary reaction was mixed, with some saying Al Zaidi chose the wrong venue for his protest. Others cheered. Al Zaidi remained in detention on Monday, accused by the government of a “barbaric act”. He would be tried on charges of insulting the Iraqi state, said the prime minister’s media adviser, Yasin Majeed.
.....On a more serious note, colleagues of the Iraqi journalist said they are worried about him as they have yet to hear news about him. “They confiscated his mobile, I tried calling him but no answer. No one knows where he is now,” Dr. Abdul Hussain Shaaban, managing director of Al Baghdadiya Satellite TV, told Gulf News. Shaaban, who is also a human rights activist.....
.....An Iraqi government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Al Zaidi was being held for questioning by Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s guards and is being tested for alcohol and drugs.
...Al Maliki’s security crowded in on him, beating him relentlessly. Mohammed Taher, reporter from Afaq, a TV station close to the ruling government of Al Maliki, described Al Zaidi “crying like a girl.”
“All I can report is that it is a size 10,” Bush joked, as other Iraqi journalists reportedly rushed to apologise for Al Zaidi’s actions.
The photo in #44 is a photoshop with some other crazed muslim’s head stuck on. Interesting that the other ME guy is trying to stop the assault, and the pasty white reporter (AP?) is thinking - “Huh - Code Pink is getting more creative.” And see my post #70 for what happened after the assault to make you feel a bit better.
saboteur!
...from the French word (sabot) for clog, or wooden shoe.
..whereby disgruntled workers would throw their clog (sabot) into the machinery in protest, or to damage the machines.
Also sabotage
FWIW
5 Years in the pen.
My thoughts exactly.
Bush has a couple of decades on me and i couldn’t have moved that fast. Frankly, i was impressed with his agility and awareness. Of course he was in a war zone and i could tell he saw the guy moving in an aggressive manner.
What concerns me is the fact that this guy wasn’t on the floor before he got his shoe off. The Secret Service has made some serious flubs during the Bush presidency; The little ruckus down in Chile. The debacle in Tblisi. And this.
Bottom line is the POTUS is ok. But someone needs to be getting their ass chewed. I would even go so far as to say someone needs to be relieved of duty. The guys closest to him in physical proximity are responsible for stopping things that move much faster than shoes.....like bullets.
Someone commented the dodges were like "The Matrix."
Good post. I agree. Something stinks about the lack of Secret Service response on this.
This same Secret Service will be protecting Obama... (if he ever shows his place of birth.)
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