Seen in many videos on the web and on the television, an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at GW Bush. It has great meaning in the Arab world, this shoe throwing, but GW didn’t have a clue as he didn’t understand neither Arabic nor the meaning of projectile footwear. He concluded to the audience that it was a size 10 and that dissent was a part of a free democracy -you can hear the screams of the fellow as he was carried out for a beating on various Youtube videos. His grievances were heartfelt and resonated across the Arab countries. 

I have no love of GW Bush, but I love this country, and this news saddens me. I have a great deal of respect for the office of the presidency and what it means to the country to which I have pledged allegiance many times, and all I could think was, “So this is how it ends?” Eight very bad years for America bookended by travesty and farce. 

Those shoes should be headed straight for the Smithsonian, and we should all call for leniency for that shoe throwing man -he did not explode himself after all. If he were in the US, and it was 1999, and it was Bill Clinton, he’d get a year or two and a book deal. I hear this fellow is facing 7 years in Iraqi jail, which makes Turkish prison seem like a weekend in Aspen.