Am I the only person horrified by this?
So a journalist in Iraq threw his shoes at President Bush during a news conference.
I can understand hating President Bush. I despise the man myself. I can understand that this guy has tremendous reason to be angry at the Bush administration and at the American military presence in Iraq.
But the fact is, he threw something at a foreign head of state. And he's been arrested for assault, and people are framing it as a free speech issue.
This serves neither the journalist's cause of getting the Americans out of Iraq, nor the free speech organizations' cause of protecting free speech. Throwing something at someone is a form of assault.
And this leaves entirely aside the fact that insulting a foreign head of state is generally a really bad idea, particularly when that state has a huge military presence in one's own country. It's also highly inappropriate.
Unfortunately, the President isn't helping at all, acting as though nothing major has happened.
This whole thing is being handled wrong by every possible person involved - and the journalist is being hailed as a hero. WTF.
I can understand hating President Bush. I despise the man myself. I can understand that this guy has tremendous reason to be angry at the Bush administration and at the American military presence in Iraq.
But the fact is, he threw something at a foreign head of state. And he's been arrested for assault, and people are framing it as a free speech issue.
This serves neither the journalist's cause of getting the Americans out of Iraq, nor the free speech organizations' cause of protecting free speech. Throwing something at someone is a form of assault.
And this leaves entirely aside the fact that insulting a foreign head of state is generally a really bad idea, particularly when that state has a huge military presence in one's own country. It's also highly inappropriate.
Unfortunately, the President isn't helping at all, acting as though nothing major has happened.
This whole thing is being handled wrong by every possible person involved - and the journalist is being hailed as a hero. WTF.