The shoe-throwing incident reminded me of that video of Kelsey Grammer falling off the stage into an orchestra pit that Tom gleefully highlighted some time ago. Well deserved, and great theater. The thrown shoes were comeuppance, however trivial and symbolic.
And then there's Bush's own narrative, the one going on inside his head, as the piece that Martin cited states:
"In an interview with ABC News, when Bush was saying, 'One of the major theaters against al Qaeda turns out to have been Iraq. This is where al Qaeda said they were going to take their stand,' he was challenged by Martha Raddatz with the fact that al-Qaeda wasn't in Iraq until after the United States invaded. Bush responded, 'Yeah, that's right. So what?' Someone should be there every day of Bush's life to throw shoes at him." And so he responds with his trademark smirk and makes jovial comments about the incident.
He's still leaving office with the country he's led for the last eight years in terrible shape, two wars going on with no end in sight, his own party in tatters, and an economy that's in worse shape than anytime in the last 30, or more likely, the last 80 years. Historians are debating about whether his presidency ranks as the worst in history or merely among the worst five-or-so presidencies in American history. No amount of spinning or self-deluded denial can really improve that. Bush can try to have the last laugh, but his poor performance as chief executive have guaranteed that his presidency ends in a pathetic whimper. Thrown shoes -- so what? The worst humiliation is the one he has created for himself and the consequences he must now endure.
