Cracker by Damian Christie

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Cracker: Sole Man

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  • andrew llewellyn,

    I think the 2nd shoe throw is the teller - notice how Dubya raises his hand just like Darth Vader when he pulls Han Solo's blaster toward him when they arrive at the cloud city.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • FletcherB,

    I'm somewhat surprised (but also relieved) that the shoe thrower isn't full of bullet holes now...

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Who won the prizes?

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    But before I go, I'd like to at least acknowledge this guy, because he is awesome. Shame about his intended victim's cocaine-quick reactions.

    Makes me wish the journalist was a quadraped. Or maybe a centipede.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I'm somewhat surprised (but also relieved) that the shoe thrower isn't full of bullet holes now...

    Wow... always spectacularly endearing when we express amazement that the savages can be trusted in the drawing room after all. Meanwhile, we just have our mixed nut assortments posting white powder to the Prime Minister, and generating needless anxiety -- and time-wasting expense -- to people whose major sin was going to work.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    and I could have written about scootering around this great city

    I was unaware you lived in Dunedin, Damien. You'll have to join the Dunedinista for a beer when we next meet.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    I assumed Fletcher was talking about the Secret Service.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • FletcherB,

    Craig.... I was talking about the Presidents armed bodyguards (whether from the USA or iraq) not over-reacting on the spot....

    I did not mean to suggest that I thought he might be dragged out of the room and then summarily executed once any present and imminent danger had clearly passed....

    I meant he might not have got to throw the second shoe...

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott,

    I was wondering more why one of his goons didn't leap over to take the second shoe for him - in the line of duty of course.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I was wondering more why one of his goons didn't leap over to take the second shoe for him - in the line of duty of course.

    Yeah, it wasn't exactly "In the Line of Fire" was it? Maybe they've got low motivation levels after 8 years, with only 35 days until they get the new guy.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott,

    or they were waiting to see if he was going to let loose with his socks?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Meanwhile, Philip Toledano asks what if American foreign policy had a gift shop?

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    Well, what is democracy but the free exchange of views?

    Or in this case, shoes.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Craig.... I was talking about the Presidents armed bodyguards (whether from the USA or iraq) not over-reacting on the spot....

    Still kind of a silly crack. I believe there's a certain degree of security involved, and the only people who are going to respond to ugly shoes with lethal force are the Fashion Police. :)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Joanna,

    You'll have to join the Dunedinista for a beer when we next meet.

    You'd better be careful there Grant, or we'll be sending you "Cease and Desist!" emails...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 746 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    I heard someone say this morning that they need to imprison the Sole Man so as not to set a precedent…

    Are they really expecting this to take off? Next time I walk down a Baghdad street the last thing I’ll be worrying about is getting a shoe thrown at me.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    I heard someone say this morning that they need to imprison the Sole Man so as not to set a precedent…

    Or so as not to upset a president?

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Bush seems kinda likeable in his comments after the shoe-throwing.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    Agreed.

    Probably the high point of his presidency.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    Bush seems kinda likeable in his comments after the shoe-throwing.

    Finally, under stress, he becomes articulate. Who knew?

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Bush seems kinda likeable in his comments after the shoe-throwing.

    Meh... I thought it was utter bemusement myself, but either works. Considering that eight out of forty-three Presidents died in office -- four of them assassinated -- and two others were seriously injured in attempts on their lives, dodging a shoe is a doddle.

    And, surely, you don't have to like George Bush to wonder what the hell was achieved by (in that cultural context) being as insulting and degrading as possible. Regular readers might have picked up that I have little respect for the government of Iran. But if I had Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pinned down at a press conference, I'd rather take the opportunity to ask a pointed question or two than call him a pig and slap him in the head with a cheap Manolo knock off. (Why waste the real thing?)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    And, surely, you don't have to like George Bush to wonder what the hell was achieved by (in that cultural context) being as insulting and degrading as possible. Regular readers might have picked up that I have little respect for the government of Iran. But if I had Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pinned down at a press conference, I'd rather take the opportunity to ask a pointed question or two than call him a pig and slap him in the head with a cheap Manolo knock off. (Why waste the real thing?)

    Get back to me when Ahmadinejad has lied, bullied and manipulated his way into an unjust war causing the deaths of upwards of a million of your countrymen, -women, children & babies, displacing millions etc. etc.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Get back to me when Ahmadinejad has lied, bullied and manipulated his way into an unjust war causing the deaths of upwards of a million of your countrymen, -women, children & babies, displacing millions etc. etc.

    3410: Get back to me when I'm safer being an out gay man in Tehran than in Washington, DC. The United States is far from perfect, but I don't recall any state or federal law where it is legal to torture and murder alleged homosexuals.

    I'll also make no apologies for having zero respect for Holocaust deniers and Jew-haters, and am glad to live in a country where people like Kyle Chapman don't achieve high public office. They lose their deposits.

    That is all. And I still don't see what's actually been achieved. And wouldn't it be kind of cool if human rights abuses, persistent allegations of political and police corruption, violations of due process and sectarian violence in Iraq actually got as much attention of someone flinging his brogues?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    And wouldn't it be kind of cool if human rights abuses, persistent allegations of political and police corruption, violations of due process and sectarian violence in Iraq actually got as much attention of someone flinging his brogues?

    Amen to that. I still can't help thinking that Al Zaidi has done something important for Iraqi pride. At great risk to himself he has expressed an appropriate level of disgust for the tyrant criminal Bush without shooting him in the face. That in itself is, I submit, quite an achievement.

    If I believed in such things, Muntadhar al Zaidi would be, in my books, a strong contender for Man of the Year.

    Get back to me when I'm safer being an out gay man in Tehran than in Washington, DC. The United States is far from perfect, but I don't recall any state or federal law where it is legal to torture and murder alleged homosexuals.

    Ironically, the US does not consider the murder of alleged homosexuals illegal, if they be Iraqi or Afghani civilians, nor the torture of them if they be "unlawful combatants" (which, need I remind you, can amount to as little as being on the wrong end of a bogus bounty deal.)

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

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