To all those criticizing the Secret Service for this oh-so terrible shoe "attack"...

[Seen the light]

Just what could they have done differently? Do you really want the SS to start strip searching everyone within the vicinity of the President? Requiring them to stand behind Plexiglas? Form human shields around him at all times? Just say screw it and not let them go out in public ever?

If you really want to be scared, read up on the failed grenade assassination attempt on Bush in Georgia in 2005. Now THAT sort of stuff can and should always be prevented.

But getting worked up over a couple of fucking shoes? I don't get it.

[we can do it]

1. I Fully Agree -

[Occam Bandage]

2. Strip searches would not prevent someone from throwing a shoe. nt

[Seen the light]

4. That's true too

I guess we'll need to require to appear shoeless before the POTUS. Screw it, no clothes of any type allowed in his vicinity.

[Occam Bandage]

10. A stunning reversal of the Emperor's custom. nt

[sandnsea]

3. It's not the shoes

It's that he was allowed to throw two shoes without any protection at all. If that had been a gun somehow, well where is all that jumping in front of the President stuff.

Not that I'm AT ALL upset about shoes being thrown at a politician, especially Bush, I think it's hysterical.

[Life Long Dem]

24. Yeah, they needed to make leaps into the air to dive in front of that rocketed shoe!

But I guess we have to settle for Iraq's president sticking his hand in front of the second thrown shoe.

[ellacott]

5. They could have at least been standing where they would have a view of the room

They were sitting in the front row. When Obama was campaigning they had him flanked and was always looking at the crowd.

[mtnsnake]

6. There isn't very much they can do about shoe-throwing incidents

unless they start demanding that everyone removes their shoes before going into an event where the President is attending.

[ProSense]

7. The appropriate security measures were probably in place, but

how do you stop a journalist who is listening to Bush gloating about the success of his illegal war and stating that the unjust war is not over from getting so upset that the journalist hurls his shoes at Bush?

[DoctorMyEyes]

8. I don't get it either

They were shoes, not a deadly threat. Shoes for cripes sake.

Not bullets, grenades, knives, darts, not even Chinese throwing stars - fucking shoes. Bush would have looked even stupider getting thrown to the ground by his own men protecting him from shoes.

[hisownpetard]

9. I totally forgive the guy for hurling his shoes at Bush. Bush has made me want to hurl

countless times!

[question everything]

11. Grab him as soon as he started running toward the podium

and, certainly, grab him between shoe number one and shoe number two.

This is what secret service does, form a live barrier between an attacker and the one whom they are supposed to protect.

[uponit7771]

12. +1

[ProSense]

14. There was no "running toward the podium"

video

He got up out of his seat and threw his shoes.

[gravity]

15. The Secret Service aren't super human

The shoe attack lasted for about a second.

Maybe they can train to have a more instinctual reaction to flying shoes, but I don't think there was much that could have been done to prevent this.

[mucifer]

17. They grabbed him as he was throwing shoe number 2 and watch the Iraqi prez

he could tell it was a shoe and he wasn't scared. (He probably told the man to throw the shoe). :)

There are more than one video out there some really make it clear how quickly he was grabbed from behind. In other versions it's hard to see where the reporter goes down.

[MrMickeysMom]

13. True, in fact - can you see it?

I had an instant flash of everyone who was forced to go barefoot or wear socks (p.u.) all for the sake of people like Bush and Pearle-

Let's not forget when Richard Pearle was at the podium the audience member who threw his shoes, though not nearly as good of an aim as the Iraqi reporter.

[rpannier]

16. The funniest thing about it is...

DUH-bya is ducking and maliki is standing there with an irritated look on his face, he isn't even moving.

link:
www.crooksandliars.com

[Jamastiene]

18. Hell! Even Bush himself didn't get worked up over it.

I don't get the holier than thou attitude some have. He wasn't harmed and even IF the shoes had made contact, it wouldn't have really hurt him. He was just insulted. That is all.

[lynne]

19. The SS did their job just fine. Those worked up are clueless -

- about the security measures that the journalists went through BEFORE they entered the room. They had been through security - bags searched, x-rayed, each individual personally searched and put through a magnetometer, similar to going through Airport security. I suspect that each journalist allowed in was on a pre-screened and approved list, as well. The SS knew there were no guns, no knives, no bombs, no weapons, no explosives in that room.

This situation in a secured and closed room does not compare to the Reagan incident which was in the middle of a public street. Short of making everyone enter empty-handed and naked, there's no way to eliminate the possibility that a journalist in a secure area could throw an article of clothing or even their camera at the president.

[kevinds13]

20. I sure wish someone, anyone

would have jumped up and got in front of the President after the first throw. Seriously, it wasn't a life or death thing, but the reaction time was pretty darn slow.

[elleng]

21. I agree; most people at press conferences wear shoes.

I am, however, VERY concerned about O's physical well-being; I'll leave it at that.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

22. Only solution is nude press conferences.

[FlaGranny]

23. Now THAT would be interesting. n/t

[A-Schwarzenegger]

27. Or Velcro the entire press conference room,

including clothing.

[Political Tiger]

25. I don't see how the Secret Service could have done anything differently

eom

[Hassin Bin Sober]

28. I would bet they are not too proud of the fact that the agent was tripping over furniture ....

.....to get to bush.

I'm sure they are critiquing their performance - that's what they do. A minor incident like this is a perfect occasion to evaluate real life performance and response times.

Keeping a clear path between the agents and the president is probably a good idea.

[Orsino]

26. No one could have foreseen the breach of the loafers. n/t

[RamboLiberal]

29. To those of you who are pooh-poohing it was only a shoe

Do you remember this?

A man has confessed to throwing a live grenade near where U.S. President George W. Bush was speaking during the American leader's visit to Georgia in May, a government official says.

-----

Although the grenade did not explode, it could have, according to Georgian officials and an FBI agent. (Full story)

Asked about Wednesday's developments, Secret Service spokesman Tom Mazur said, "We were not involved" in the incident but "we continue to monitor the Georgian investigation."

-----

The grenade was tossed within 100 feet (30 meters) of the podium where Bush, Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili and other officials were protected by bulletproof glass.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/21/bush.grenade/index.html

Sorry, but with Obama coming in I want the Secret Service at the top of their game. I was a bit disturbed at their slow reaction to the shoe throwing yesterday.

[Honeycombe8]

30. Don't they normally stand ON the stage w/the President? They were sitting the audience....

is that usual? Maybe a couple of plants....but I thought I'd seen in years past SS guys hovering around the President, whether he's on a stage or walking outside or wherever.