President's Moves Draw Kudos from Hollywood Legend

Retired Hanna-Barbera star, Top Cat, reached at his room in the Old Actors Home in Woodland Hills, California, said recently he was deeply impressed at how well the President handled having shoes thrown at him in Baghdad.

“Many was the time a thrown shoe knocked me clean off a wooden fence,” recalled Cat, 79. “Benny, Choo-Choo, we’d all get nailed now and then. It was usually after dark, and if we were talking loud we didn’t always hear it coming. But we ducked our share, too. We’re cats, we do have reflexes.”

Which was one of the things that impressed him and his gang most about the President’s reactions in Baghdad. Cat, whose close friends call him “T.C.”, said “that guy dodged those brogans like a pro. He was cool about it, see. We all agreed we'd hang out with him in an alley any time.”

A Shoe Story Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Goes Marching On

The world media has leapt on the story of the shoe-throwing in Baghdad, parched after months of watching victory being snatched from their own declarations of defeat, leaving them with nothing to say about Iraq. This story has already had more coverage in 24 hours than the American victory in Iraq has had all year.

Here’s the BBC pretending to see both sides of this journalist’s disgraceful behavior:

“But others have called Mr Zaidi a hero, for striking a symbolic blow against someone they hold responsible for devastating wars in the Muslim world that have cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

“And they celebrate its occurrence at the very heart of American power in Iraq, the massively fortified Green Zone where US forces shelter Iraq's political leaders, American and UK diplomats, and visiting dignitaries, from the anger of Baghdad's streets.” (“Bush shoe-ing worst Arab insult”).

A misprint, certainly, since I'm sure they meant "we celebrate its occurence." Eh, Beeb?

And the New York Times, reporting on the reporting of the story:

“A thinly veiled glee could be discerned in much of the reporting, especially in the places where anti-American sentiment runs deepest.” (“Shoe-Hurling Iraqi Becomes a Folk Hero”).

Thinly-veiled is right. And it's pretty thin at the New York Times and the BBC.