Shoe Throwing Guy . . . I Want to Throw My Shoe at You (updated)

Is anyone else as upset as I am about the guy who threw his shoes at the president?

I mean, say what you will about him (and people do), he is the President of the United States of America. And he was attacked.

But in the coverage I'm seeing (granted, not a lot) the guy who threw the shoes is being lauded as some sort of hero. He might be lauded as a hero is he had thrown his shoe at Saddam as well.

Rather, he'd be lauded as a martyr.

Look, I don't think Bush is as terrible as most people seem to think. I also don't think he's as great as he'd like us to remember him. No Child Left Behind may have brought test scores up, but I know many teachers felt left behind. America has not been attacked since 9-11, but that hasn't made the world safer necessarily.

But President Bush is the President of the United States. And on foreign soil, he was attacked. This bothers me. Am I the only one? Maybe I'm missing something. I understand the insult involved in throwing your shoe at someone. But do Americans hate the President so much that they actually applaud this attack? Had it been a violent attack, or had it struck and drawn blood even, would people have celebrated it in the same way?

As for all the people who are latching on to this as a great opportunity to mock the president -- I want to throw my shoe at you, too . . . (Reminds me of my friend Brad's joke: he hated those stickers of Calvin peeing on truck logos so much that he wanted to get a sticker of Calvin peeing on those stickers.)

~ Ben

UPDATE:

Seems President Bush himself isn't as bothered as I am . . . and Bill O'Reilly agrees with some of my assessment, and makes some interesting comments:



I don't think Bush's legacy is up for as much debate as it should be, though.