Shoes And Shame: Where Is The Outrage?

Shame on us! Shame on the president! Shame on the Secret Service! Shame on the Iraqis! Shame on the world that hates not only our president but all Americans in general and as person to person as well!

But most of all, shame on the mass news media and their fawning cartoonists in particular!

Where's the outrage that should have erupted nationwide? Where is the vociferous roar against an insult to us? Our presidency? These United States of America?

Where is the outrage that should have come from both the Republican and Democrat members of Congress? Can they never be bi-partisan under any circumstance?

It's painfully apparent our docile dismissal of the event translates into no pride for this magnificent nation. So why should others not insult us? Are we so accustomed to it we need not even turn the other cheek?

What's so outrageous? Two dirty shoes thrown by a filthy Iraqi - now idolized by a multitude of Muslims and chuckling wags on every continent. That's what is outrageous!

Here we sit - on our hands - apparently incapable of expressing our feelings at such a mockery of our sacrifice, good will and the lives of more than 4,000 Americans.

Before the Iraqi War, President Bush promised "no nation building." Something or someone changed his mind. Enter goody two-shoes.

We defeated the Iraqi armed forces in days not months. Their loss was total. It was deserved. They and their Republican Guard were the bad guys. Have we forgotten that? The world was stunned by the ease with which this victory was gained. Do you remember how Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan braggart, turned on a dime from aggressor to a believer in our might?

However, George Walker Bush saw an opportunity to give the Iraqi people their freedom.

Instead of reparations to us, we have given it to them in blood, lives and treasure.

The time is past when the Iraqis should fight for their own freedom. If they want it, as our forefathers did, they'll fight for it. If not ... ?

Where was our Secret Service in those few precious moments? Had the attacker had a gun, we'd be in national mourning. Perhaps, in their planning, they kept a low profile to assuage a sensitive host? So much for sensitivity? Where was the Iraqi security force? Television caught them running in from outside the conference room. Shame on them! Shame on their leadership!

President Bush deftly sidestepped two filthy shoes thrown at him by the new hero of the Muslim world. President Bush made light of his embarrassment so as not to embarrass his hosts. They deserved embarrassment and derision. He should have strode (as soon as he Xed out his signature from the Status of Forces Agreement that he traveled thousands of miles to Iraq to sign) deftly toward the exit, boarded Air Force One and announced himself as the first of all of our military forces to be returning home.

No, he kept his cool. He even added some levity to the situation. If he had not been president of the United States, he has every right to do what he deems appropriate to the situation. But he did not defend the decorum his office is due when it is disgraced, denigrated - even humbled for the entire world to observe and applaud.

Why did he not react as the circumstance demanded?

Have you read the newspapers or watched television or resorted to the blog spots these past eight years? Bush has variously been branded by the news media with the full cooperation and relentless prodding by the Democratic politicians: a murderer, traitor, a candidate for impeachment, law breaker, liar, war monger. You name it, he's been accused of whatever.

The New York Times' policy - since his win in 2000 - has been to destroy any Bush initiative, action or legacy. Their success in this respect has been and remains shameful. The Times and their liberal brethren are directly responsible for that shoe throwing and its concurrent generation of happiness among Muslim fanatics.