One good thing I can say about Bush

[Guest MonkeySee]

One good thing I can say about Bush is he has quick reflexes. I was surprised that he reacted so quickly when he ducked two shots of flying shoes from an Iraqi reporter. I understand the reporter’s feelings towards Bush, having lost innocent family members in the war. The smirk on the face of Bush and his remarks shows he just does not get it. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed due to his crazy war.

[Guest laurence]

One good thing I can say about Bush is he has quick reflexes. I was surprised that he reacted so quickly when he ducked two shots of flying shoes from an Iraqi reporter.

 

No surprise! After all he was a "shoo-in" when elected president.

 

Gad, when is this contest going to end so I don't have to make crazy posts just to reach the three-a-day quota???

 

[Guest Steve1903]

Was it meant to be a question and answer session or just Bush making a speech? If the opportunity was there for the reporter to ask a question or two then he really let himself down by not taking the opportunity to either ask a searching question or at least make a salient point.

If on the other hand it was just a session for Bush to talk shite then I suppose he probably took the only chance he'll ever get to launch his shoes at the prick.

[Guest Astrrro]

Here's a slo-mo version.

 

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2171819/pres...in_slow_motion/

 

Shoe-SloMo

 

And it's also been turned into a video game.

 

[KhorTose]

One good thing I can say about Bush is he has quick reflexes. I was surprised that he reacted so quickly when he ducked two shots of flying shoes from an Iraqi reporter. I understand the reporter’s feelings towards Bush, having lost innocent family members in the war. The smirk on the face of Bush and his remarks shows he just does not get it. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed due to his crazy war.

 

He does have good reactions, and I agree that smirk is more telling then ducking the shoe. This is the man who ran on a platform of conservative compassion, and I do not believe that Bush is capable of even basic compassion. Every time I look at this man, I wonder about the fate of a nation that could elect this kind of a man to lead them. Not once, but twice. His presidency has made me question everything about America I thought I knew?

 

[Guest GaySacGuy]

I have NOTHING GOOD to say about Bush. The best thing in the world..and for the world..will be Bush getting out of Dodge.

 

As far as the ducking ability....he has shown this ability by ducking questions and dodging the truth for 8 years....all I have to say is GOODBYE and good ridence!!!

[Guest fountainhall]

If the opportunity was there for the reporter to ask a question or two then he really let himself down by not taking the opportunity to either ask a searching question or at least make a salient point.

 

Surely you can't really believe that! A Muslim throwing his shoe at you is one of the worst imaginable insults. The reporter's action got him headlines around the world and he is now the most celebrated person in many nations - more than a few of them in the west. He is now irrevocably linked to the final collapse of a loathed administration. Could he have achieved anything like that effect with a question? And no matter how searching, you can't think that Bush would have answered it, except with his trademark smirk and evasiveness.

 

There's an excellent new book by Pullitzer Prize winner Ron Suskind titled "The Way of the World". This is another well-written, well-reasoned and devastating indictment of a president who was hopelessly unqualified for the job. I'll quote just one short passage from the first chapter:

 

"Bush, with his distate for analysis and those who contradict him . . . seemed unconcerned, unlike other presidents, that isolation would prompt errors of judgement. Instead, he began taking policy advice from old cajoling friends whose relationships predated his ascendancy or from visiting pastors speaking frankly in their everyman voices of faith. A man who trusts only what he can touch placed in a realm where nothing he touches is authentic. It's a diabolical twist worthy of Sophocles or Shakespeare. Either would have written it as a tragedy."

 

I hope someone acting on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis he slaughtered has the guts to bring charges of war crimes against him.

[Guest MonkeySee]

Surely you can't really believe that! A Muslim throwing his shoe at you is one of the worst imaginable insults. The reporter's action got him headlines around the world and he is now the most celebrated person in many nations - more than a few of them in the west.

I do not know how true it is, but I heard on a newscast that he may be sentenced up to seven years in prison for doing the "old soft shoe."

 

[Guest GaySacGuy]

Bush..and his boss Cheney... both now have the real answer to any probing question...So...or So What?

 

When ashed about going to war without the proper intelligence....So?

 

When asked about torture...So What.

 

It appears to me that in an ABC interview Cheney admitted to a war crime. Now, will anybody call hin on it and file charges. He admitted to authorizing waterboarding, which is torture. What is better than a taped confession???

[Guest fountainhall]

I do not know how true it is, but I heard on a newscast that he may be sentenced up to seven years in prison for doing the "old soft shoe."

 

If he's jailed, I reckon he'll be paroled pretty quickly, given what seems to be the strength of feeling in Iraq against any prosecution. But maybe the dear leader of the free world already has him on the way to Guantanimo.

[Guest fountainhall]

Now, will anybody call hin on it and file charges.

 

Sadly, unlikely. After all, people like Kissinger got away with crimes in several countries that were equally dreadful - and he's now consulted by all and sundry on how to run the world. I guess once you leave office, you are absolved of your crimes.

[Guest MonkeySee]

Sadly, unlikely. After all, people like Kissinger got away with crimes in several countries that were equally dreadful - and he's now consulted by all and sundry on how to run the world. I guess once you leave office, you are absolved of your crimes.

Leaving office did not help the Defense Minister of Rwanda and a couple of army commanders. They were all sentenced to life in prison by the world court for acts of genocide.

 

[Guest fountainhall]

Leaving office did not help the Defense Minister of Rwanda and a couple of army commanders. They were all sentenced to life in prison by the world court for acts of genocide.

 

And quite right, too! The problem re Kissinger, Bush and any other Americans whom the Court might deem worthy of trial is that the US has never signed up for the World Court. Bush has said on many occasions that the Court will never have jurisdiction over any American. To ensure he'll not be dragged before it?

[Guest MonkeySee]

And quite right, too! The problem re Kissinger, Bush and any other Americans whom the Court might deem worthy of trial is that the US has never signed up for the World Court. Bush has said on many occasions that the Court will never have jurisdiction over any American. To ensure he'll not be dragged before it?

Are the British signed on? Do you think Tony Blair might be worthy of a trial for his part in the Bush war? I have a friend that is convinced that Bush would not have gone into the war, if England had not backed him up.

[Guest fountainhall]

I have a friend that is convinced that Bush would not have gone into the war, if England had not backed him up.

 

I will have to check about Britain and the War Crimes Tribunal. I think it did sign up.

 

Re Blair, all the books and articles I have read seem to indicate that he did press Bush extremely hard on the need for a second UN vote. And I believe the British Parliament all but insisted on one. But Bush had zero intention of going to the UN for a vote he knew he would lose, and walked all over his acolyte Blair. It's rather strange now to realise that Blair was immensely popular at the time in Britain. Very, very few could understand what on earth he saw in Bush and why he caved in. That marked the start of the decline that resulted in his becoming one of the most disliked people in the country and put him in the position of virtually having to leave office.

[Guest GaySacGuy]

I think the one that really should be looking over his shoulder after January 20 is Cheney.

 

He pretty much addmitted to war crimes in an ABC interview, and it would be really cool to see an actual trial with forced eveidence!!

[Guest Astrrro]

Shoe Hurled at Bush Flies Off Turkish Maker’s Shelves

 

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The shoe hurled at President George W. Bush has sent sales soaring at the Turkish maker as orders pour in from Iraq, the U.S. and Iran.

 

The brown, thick-soled “Model 271” may soon be renamed “The Bush Shoe” or “Bye-Bye Bush,” Ramazan Baydan, who owns the Istanbul-based producer Baydan Ayakkabicilik San. & Tic., said in a telephone interview today.

 

“We’ve been selling these shoes for years but, thanks to Bush, orders are flying in like crazy,” he said. “We’ve even hired an agency to look at television advertising.”

 

Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi hurled a pair at Bush at a news conference in Baghdad on Dec. 14. Both shoes missed the president after he ducked. The journalist was jailed and is seeking a pardon from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

 

Baydan has received orders for 300,000 pairs of the shoes since the attack, more than four times the number his company sold each year since the model was introduced in 1999. The company plans to employ 100 more staff to meet demand, he said.

 

“Model 271” is exported to markets including Iraq, Iran, Syria and Egypt. Customers in Iraq ordered 120,000 pairs this week and some Iraqis offered to set up distribution companies for the shoe, Baydan said.

 

Baydan has received a request for 4,000 pairs from a company called Davidson, based in Maryland. He declined to provide further details.

[Guest fountainhall]

The brown, thick-soled “Model 271” may soon be renamed “The Bush Shoe” or “Bye-Bye Bush,”

 

This reminds me of what happened in Japan after Bush senior had a major stomach upset during a dinner speech he was giving with the Prime Minister sitting next to him. Within 24 hours,the Japanese had coined a new word - 'bushuru", meaning to throw up all over your host.

[Guest xiandarkthorne]

Leaving office did not help the Defense Minister of Rwanda and a couple of army commanders. They were all sentenced to life in prison by the world court for acts of genocide.

 

Sorry, Monkey, but I don't see this happening any time to the Buscher of Baghdad. As a certain American relative of mine once said to me, "When America farts, the rest of the world trembles."

 

[KhorTose]

This reminds me of what happened in Japan after Bush senior had a major stomach upset during a dinner speech he was giving with the Prime Minister sitting next to him. Within 24 hours,the Japanese had coined a new word - 'bushuru", meaning to throw up all over your host.

 

I wonder what word they would come up with for Bush Jr, who threw up all over his country.

If this sounds a little harsh for some out there, I apologize. My statement is made in reaction to this terrible fear that I have that somehow Bush's elections shows that the democratic system has really failed.

 

[Bob]

I wonder what word they would come up with for Bush Jr, who threw up all over his country.

If this sounds a little harsh for some out there, I apologize. My statement is made in reaction to this terrible fear that I have that somehow Bush's elections shows that the democratic system has really failed.

 

No need to apologize as I think you make a fair characterization about Bush Jr. But democracy is a concept that in no way guarantees that we elect intelligent or wise leaders; besides, the electorate can be fooled by bullshit promises and policies and, in my view, was very fooled when Junior was first elected (none of us seemed to ever see the "compassionate conservatism" that was the cornerstone of his first campaign). Then, frankly, Kerry was the best that the Democrats could dig up in 1984? (I had to hold my nose to vote for John).

 

But you don't fool the electorate for very long and that's why ol' Junior has the lowest public approval rating of any US President in history (or for as long as they've ever taken polls about such things). And (God, I hate to say anything almost nice about Junior) could there be an argument that Junior's swing to the right and huge unpopularity gave us the necessary political background and turmoil that could allow Obama's election 6 weeks ago? Maybe so.

[Guest MonkeySee]

But you don't fool the electorate for very long and that's why ol' Junior has the lowest public approval rating of any US President in history (or for as long as they've ever taken polls about such things).

The right wing is now comparing the low Bush polls to the ones Harry Truman had when he left office. I don't think the Bush legacy is going to be anywhere close to Harry "the buck stops here" Truman.

 

[Guest fountainhall]

I think the one that really should be looking over his shoulder after January 20 is Cheney.

 

Just saw the excellent - and horrific - documentary movie "Taxi to the Dark Side" about US abuses in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo. In one scene, Bush is seen signing into law a bill which would protect him, Cheney and senior cabinet members against any prosecution at any time in the future for promoting torture. This clause was apparently hidden in the small print. Since this movie was made in 2006, there's clearly no need for Bush to pardon himself - he's already done it! No wonder the smirk is still on his face.