"Good Morning America" hosts and reporters on Monday breathlessly reported the incident of President Bush having a shoe thrown at him during a press conference in Iraq as a "deep insult," an "embarrassing incident" and a "huge insult." Parroting the comparisons made on CBS's "Early Show," GMA news anchor Chris Cuomo reminded viewers of the 2003 toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein: "You remember when the statue of Saddam Hussein was brought down? When it happened, all of the people there started throwing shoes at it."
As video of that famous footage played, Cuomo narrated, "You see them whacking their shoes against the statue? He's got a shoe. Bam! Bam! Why? Disrespect. It is a high form of insult. So, maybe a window into the mind set." Co-host Robin Roberts helpfully added, "And some of the highest form [sic] of insult in that part of the world."
Earlier in the segment, the ABC News anchor explained, "Shoe-throwing is considered a deep insult in that culture." Reporter Martha Raddatz later reiterated "It's also considered a huge insult in this world, the sole of a shoe, throwing a shoe."
A transcript of the segment, which aired at 7:04am, follows:
CHRIS CUOMO: Let's get to this really amazing incident involving the President and a couple size 10 shoes. During his farewell trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, an Iraqi journalist threw shoes at the President. Now, this was not meant as a gag. Shoe-throwing is considered a deep insult in that culture. ABC's Martha Raddatz has our report from Afghanistan.
MARTHA RADDATZ: Robin and Chris, the President arrived at Bagram Air Base before dawn to bid his farewell to U.S. troops here. The President got cheers from U.S. forces at Bagram Air Base, a welcome change from the embarrassing incident in Iraq during a press conference. Just after Mr. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki shook hands, an Iraqi journalist hurled one and then another shoe at the President, barely missing the president's head. The journalist shouted "This is your farewell kiss, dog." Security then tackled and dragged way the screaming and bleeding man. We spoke to the President just after the incident. It's also considered a huge insult in this world, the sole of a shoe, throwing a shoe.
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: I'm not insulted. I don't hold it against the government. I don't think the Iraqi press corps as a whole is terrible and so, the guy wanted to get on TV and he did. I don't know what his beef is. But, whatever it is, I'm sure somebody will hear it.
RADDATZ: The trip to Iraq was meant to highlight good news about the signing of an agreement that calls for the withdrawal of U.S. troops by the end of 2011. But while forces draw down in Iraq, 20,000 additional troops will head for Afghanistan, where the attacks have doubled in some areas.
BUSH: I think it's necessary work. And it's in the interest of the United States that we not allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven again for al Qaeda.
RADDATZ: The President is still predicting success in Afghanistan, even though things have deteriorated badly here. Chris and Robin?
CUOMO: And Martha makes an interesting point about what's deteriorating, what the opinion is. We're saying this is an insult culturally. Let's show you another piece of video here. You remember when the statue of Saddam Hussein was brought down? When it happened, all of the people there started throwing shoes at it. You see them whacking their shoes against the statue? He's got a shoe. Bam! Bam! Why? Disrespect. It is a high form of insult. So, maybe a window into the mind set.
ROBERTS: And some of the highest form [sic] of insult in that part of the world.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.
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Well I can see why shoe
December 15, 2008 - 12:47 ET by taterWell I can see why shoe throwing would be the highest form of insult. Back in the day if you voiced your insult...you'd be dead.
www.theholyrosary.org
"There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we can not resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary." -Sister Lucia
The Huge Insult is MARTHA RADDATZ:
December 15, 2008 - 13:14 ET by allanfThe huge insult is MARTHA RADDATZ buying into this nonsense. Shame on you.
Meh!
December 15, 2008 - 14:43 ET by heldmywPat a Korean on the head, wave, showing your palm on a street in Viet Nam, sit with the soles of your shoes showing in certain muslim societies, ask for ketchup in a restaurant in Paris...
Insults (grave) all... So?
The insult offered by some candyassed shoeflipper is brings far more shame and embarrassment to him, his countrymen, and what passes for society than any hurt he could offer to someone who doesn't recognize it as anything other than a child having a tantrum.
Blow him off. He's crap.
Who throws a shoe?
December 15, 2008 - 13:05 ET by ckbennetttn"Who throws a shoe? I mean, really?!"
Asked Austin Powers when hit by evil henchman Menial Task's shoe.
It can't just be some nutjob throwing a shoe-which is what it would be if it had been thrown at Obama. Cuomo and Roberts have to carp on about how insulting it is and how hated Bush must be, esp. when you consider these people really know about insults. Well, the reason they (Muslims) know insults is because their entire way of life is about revenge and intolerance. I guess they forgot to mention that part.
“I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal.” --Barack Obama
I would love to throw my shoe
December 15, 2008 - 13:07 ET by SouthJersey1953at Martha Raddatz
We celebrate CHRISTMAS
Insult??
December 15, 2008 - 13:18 ET by iveseenitallThe "jounalists" in America have done all in ther power to destroy this decent man from day one. And now they want to explain an "insult"! These rotten hypocrites live in a la-la land of self- deception. They "insult" the intelligence of every thinking American, every day of the week. I think they are secretly laughing at the shoe incident. It is they who have insulted the Office of the President (and have divided our nation). Now they act offended by someone else doing it? PUKE!
BTW, What if the shoe had been a gun?
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
isia, Proof positive, MSM is in bed with the moslems.
December 15, 2008 - 14:11 ET by upcountrywaterThe enemy within..
Well if they were in bed with then they would get stoned.
I'm going to miss President Bush..
1-20-09 Push -off into a river with class 10 rapids, in an inner tube.
FREEDOM
(D)
on the other foot:
December 15, 2008 - 13:16 ET by xyzzypoofsIf anyone ever throws a shoe at Hussein Obama, the media will report that it is a sign of deep respect ---bordering on sexual admiration!
Shoe fly
December 15, 2008 - 18:04 ET by Colemine1210That is such a weird comment. Seems to say more about you than it does about the story. Got a shoe fetish, eh? Cool.
Colemine1210
BDS alive and well
December 15, 2008 - 13:19 ET by lotrOK, so one of the reporters threw shoes at him. Bush ducked both throws (as an aside, Kerry or Gore would've probably stood there like deer in the headlights, thereby subjecting the U.S. to some real humiliation). It may have been a big insult, but seeing how it was but from one media individual, it's no big deal.
And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. -- Edgar Allan Poe
Yes
December 15, 2008 - 13:27 ET by Prester JohnOne idiot "reporter" throwing a shoe is the same as hundreds of people celebrating at the fall of Saddam's statue.
Makes sense to me.
Deep...embarassing....insult...
December 15, 2008 - 13:51 ET by mattm...as opposed to all the honor and respect the Leftoid media have shown the president during the last 8 years....
<gag>
Tell me about it
December 15, 2008 - 14:15 ET by RINOSafariThis "insult" is run of the mill compared to some of the liberal rallies that take place in this country where signs are displayed comparing him to Hitler and other things of that kind.
I disagree with a number of his policies, but still, the treatment he has gotten in the media and by the super-left (if there is a difference) is just over the line.
---------------------
Hunting down the RINOs at: http://www.rinosafari.com
Unbiased
December 15, 2008 - 13:57 ET by totalkaosdaveTotalKaosDave
It's nice to see this Iraqi journalist is just as objective and unbiased as American reporters...
What is impressive
December 15, 2008 - 14:03 ET by cocodrieis he didn't put the shoe in his mouth like Anerican reporters.
I don't see the bias
December 15, 2008 - 14:05 ET by Smoking HotShoes hurled at a president is not something we see very often. GMA attempted to explain it by drawing parallels with a familiar video clip from five and a half years ago. I don't see the bias. Maybe if they were delivering the story with barely concealed glee, or presenting this shoe tosser as some kind of hero, but evidently they did not.
liberal sissies in the MSM declare throwing a shoe as ...
December 15, 2008 - 14:07 ET by pmohbuckinsulting and disrespectful in THAT PART OF THE WORLD... yet something insulting and disrespectful in OUR PART OF THE WORLD ... like spitting in the face of our soldiers returning from the war zone ... gets a green light as being acceptable.
bush looked like "cool hand luke" while dodging footwear ... meanwhile the AP was in a "panties-in-a-wad" meltdown over global warming disguised as global cooling ... they can make fun of bush all they want, at least he's a man about it.
Citations?
December 15, 2008 - 18:08 ET by Colemine1210Mr. "pmohbuck": I'm with you on Zeppelin all the way. But.... just exactly WHO is it who says spitting in the faces of returning soldiers is "acceptable"? Could this be just another of those masturbatory right-wing fantasies?
Colemine1210
Flying Panties Alert
December 15, 2008 - 14:09 ET by Jack BauerAt least the hack didn't throw his underwear at the President.
Unlike all those swooning female campaign reporters did to Obama, having first scrawled on their name and number in lipstick.
I'm so ashamed and deeply
December 15, 2008 - 14:21 ET by moovovaI'm so ashamed and deeply embarrassed by this man's insult, I don't know if I'll ever recover. What's for lunch...?
PS: Can you believe the moves on Pres Bush! He's fast! GO GEORGE...You da man! And, then his comments. I'm sure we'll see this replayed on SNL (at least their version of it).
Insult
December 15, 2008 - 14:21 ET by doug1950The MSM has done more to insult this President than some nutcase in Iraq throwing a show at the CinC. They ought to know better but it has not deterred them from calling our President a liar, a murderer, a dunce and many many more things more vile than that. This is hypocracy for them to act all insulted or to insinuate the U.S. is being insulted because of Bush. That in and of itself is more insulting. President Bush is the only one who can say whether or not this was an insult to him and he once again has taken the high road. I no longer watch any MSM outlets including Fox and can not see why anyone else would bother to either. This has got to be a form of mass insanity withing the MSM. No doubt is due in large part to the incestuous environment they all live in.
The MSM has done more to
December 15, 2008 - 14:24 ET by moovovaThe MSM has done more to insult this President... Great (but sad) point doug1950.
So one guy, a reporter no
December 15, 2008 - 14:30 ET by SmartypantsSo one guy, a reporter no less, decides to throw his shoes at Bush and this is supposed to have some huge, deep meaning? It doesn't matter if this is some kind of customary insulting practice in Iraq, a supposed professional reporter who does this is obviously unbalanced. Is this supposed to be "objective" behavior? Even if the guy hates Bush, it does not make this action acceptable on any level. And, if we had an objective media in this country, they would be pointing out how ridiculous and dangerous this man's actions were. (What if the Secret Service responded in an unfriendly way? What if others were hurt in the process? The reporter should be in jail for a while.) In fact, if the guy threw shoes at any Democrat, that is how the coverage would be angled. Since the target was Bush, the storyline becomes more or less that Bush deserves it.
Break out the odor-eaters
December 15, 2008 - 14:31 ET by acumenRADDATZ: The trip to Iraq was meant to highlight good news....
But the media had other plans. Yet, once more, a journalist(?) inserted himself into a story to make sure that any good news out of Iraq was overshadowed by his self-created negative agenda. No doubt the shoe-tosser's peers in the US have already begun his Pulitzer nomination.
Even more amusing is these same peers have recently suggested that even if some Americans can't respect prez-select Obama we should at least respect the office. Kind of like the way the media has respected the office? Now where did I put those old fottball cleats? It's a cultural thing.
after all the insults from the left
December 15, 2008 - 14:50 ET by katiejaneand from the MSM in the US I imagine Pres Bush is totally immune to the silliness of having shoes thrown at him.
When the MSNBC talking heads call you names and treat you with gross disrespect - why get upset about some 3rd world newsman?
Did ya'll see the SNL clip of Obama?
December 15, 2008 - 18:33 ET by thebutlerdiditThe "keeping it cool" one? I would like to go on record as saying, I think Obama would have had a sh#t fit. I don't see him "keeping it cool" when someone is hurtling shoes at him. He has had so much adulation, if someone did throw something at him, I think he would just stand there, as someone else said, deer in the head lights. I would like to proclaim that "my" President "kept it cool!" I loved how Bush didn't even leave the podium. Plus, Mailiki was pretty cool, too, he just put up his hand, and then he and W went on with bizness.
The MSM like this story for
December 15, 2008 - 19:48 ET by RR GOPThe MSM like this story for two reasons:
1. It happened to President Bush and, Allah forbid, not BHO.
2. It gives them something else to talk about rather than Blago and the implications thereof-namely, that Dear Leader may be in some serious trouble.
One of the 24% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 89% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
Let's see if
December 17, 2008 - 17:17 ET by Teddythe "Arab Street's" shoe attack being a 'Deep,' 'Embarrassing,' and 'Huge Insult' on President Bush rings any bells for you, Martha.
"SO?"