Shoes fly; Pres. Bush is a cool customer

Pres. Bush reacted with the physical agility and the fearless temperament which characterize him. By the time the second shoe flew, Pres. Bush declined to even duck, and merely raised one hand in front of his face. Pres. Bush is a pretty cool customer.

Prime Minister Maliki scores points for attempting to protect Pres. Bush from the second shoe. Prime Minister Maliki has enemies who will attempt to use his protective reaction to link him to Pres. Bush in a politically damaging fashion. Prime Minister Maliki, though undoubtably cognizant of this, nevertheless attempted to protect Pres. Bush.

This is an interesting study of media. I first saw a still video frame of Pres. Bush ducking shoe #1. It looked like an inglorious moment, yet the individual video frame lied. Video shows Pres. Bush performing a nimble dance move, followed by an instantaneous return to standing position, followed by cooly refusing to duck shoe #2.

Media which provides video will show a cool and tough old rawhide President. Media which uses the still video frame plus written MSM description will likely convey a false impression of President Bush's reaction. I have provided verbal description. Watch the video and judge whether I have been fair or provided spin.

Hot Air

FoxNews:

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, however, was hit in the eye [suffering a potential black eye] with a microphone as security guards scrambled to restrain al-Zeidi.