Bush & Iraq: If The Shoe Fits...

Just how unpopular is George Bush?

We know his approval rating is at rock bottom. He has been spurned by world leaders, and, now, gets 2 shoes thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist, at a news conference at the beginning of the lame-duck president's farewell trip to Iraq.

As per usual, the story is covered better by the foreign press. Here is how the incident was described by the BBC:

In the middle of the news conference with Mr Maliki, Iraqi television journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi stood up and shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," before hurling a shoe at Mr Bush which narrowly missed him.

Showing the soles of shoes to someone is a sign of contempt in Arab culture.

With his second shoe, which the president also managed to dodge, Mr Zaidi said: "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq."

Mr Zaidi, a correspondent for Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV, was then wrestled to the ground by security personnel and hauled away.

Bush later joked about the shoe being a size 10, though it didn't generate quite the guffaws his skit on the fruitless search for weapons of mass destruction did at a Washington press function back in 2004.

How George must long for the good old days, when making a protracted sick joke of what led us into war was greeted so warmly by the alleged journalists that cover him.