Who throws a shoe?

Dubya ducks shoe

On the one hand I find it hilarious, the least of what I feel our oh-so-esteemed president deserves for the clusterfuck that is Iraq is a couple of shoes hurled in his general direction.

On the other, despite my general hatred and disgust with the man, I think he dealt with it pretty spot on.

"Let me talk about the guy throwing his shoe. It's one way to gain attention. It's like going to a political rally and having people yell at you. It's like driving down the street and having people not gesturing with all five fingers.

"It's a way for people to draw attention. I don't know what the guy's cause is. But one thing is for certain. He caused you to ask me a question about it. I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it."

I understand that this was probably intended with a bit more vitriol than the dirty bird here in the states (given the cultural ramifications of showing someone the sole of your shoe), but the general concept is true. The man flipped W the bird, so to speak. And you know, the guy probably deserves a slap on the wrist fine (public disorder kind of a deal), or at least in the U.S. I have no idea how the Iraqi government plans to deal with this...

But speaking as an American good on him. Good on W for acknowledging how the process of voicing dissent works without resorting to "with us or against us" rhetoric.

On the other hand fuck W for ramming through all of these midnight executive orders. Watering down the status of endangered species to the point of near meaninglessness? Power plants next to parks (although that has been removed from the agenda), etc. etc. I know every president goes on an orgy of signing orders, executive orders, and pardons at the end of a lame duck term. I also know that executive orders are totally constitutional, and most of the time are just the general workings of making the executive branch function (and on rare occasions can be extraordinary like executive order 8802 or 9981, or truly terrible like executive order 9066).

So there you have it: A rare kudos for W. Another in a long line of "fuck yous" directed at him as well. A laugh and tip of the cap the the bottom of a shoe. A praise of and swipe at FDR. Truman just got a tip of the cap, I'm not feeling balanced enough to go find something to yell at him about. Oh. I know. How about not having a middle name, just a middle letter. "S" Not S. It wasn't short for anything, just "S" So screw you Harry Truman and your two name one letter shenanigans.