Fine. I expect the same low protection for Obama then!

Ironic that the Iraqi reporter would be dead right now had he thrown those shoes during the Hussein government.

There was only 2 seconds between shoe tosses....The SS responded as quickly as humanly possible...and the guy was going basically while he was throwing the second shoe. What do you guys expect?

Pres Bush is a favorite among the SS BTW. MUCH preferred over working for the overbearing Clintons.

The Secret Service should have been in closer proximity to Bush and there should have been agents interspersed in the crowd. Known dissidents should never have been there in the first place. Finally, there was a reporter who pushed the "journalist" to the ground before Bush's personal agent even responded at all. Watch the video again.

There was also a 5 second response window there after the first shoe was thrown. It was not 2 seconds.

I'm imagining an SNL skit where the guy takes off one shoe and throws it, takes off the other shoe and throws it, then begins to take off additional articles of clothing one at a time, throwing each one - all while the secret service stands by, fiddling with their blackberrys, checking their watches, combing their hair, etc.

(Otoh, it did seem like a fairly controlled situation and they had no doubt ensured no one was armed prior to entering the room via metal detectors, etc.)

I think they should make journalists remove their shoes before presidential press conferences, like they make us unwashed masses do before going through airport security!

"Even though the S.S. was slow to react, Bush was certainly fast."

Normally, when Bush has to duck like that, it's because he's thrown a soft pitch, and when that happens they usually come back alot faster than that. Dodging a shoe from that distance is alot easier than dodging a baseball.

Bush handled it just fine, and the SS responded in a way that I think their boss would approve of. A heavy handed return responce would have ended up making the Egyptian journalist look like a martyr.

Perhaps the journalist who threw the shoes should be treated gently, with no more punishment than he would have received if he had thrown his shoes at a guest of Saddam Hussein while the latter was in power.

In the meantime, we should all be thankful that no one was harmed... when I first heard of the story, I was afraid Helen Thomas was doing a strip tease, which would undoubtedly have forced all men in the room to claw their eyes out, at the very least.

Can't wait until they throw a shoe at the Messiah. The NY Times will be calling to hang them.

"Watch the video again.

There was also a 5 second response window there after the first shoe was thrown. It was not 2 seconds."

Oh no, not ATT commercial again....

1:00 first shoe flying
0:58 second shoe flying
0:57.5 SS agent responding from right and behind
0:57 perp hits the floor
0:56 SS agent hands on perp

YOU watch it again...

I think some of the commenters need to lighten up about the Secret Service. Sure it's scary, but the worst the guy could do was throw shoes -- nobody except the Iraqi PM was close enough to attack GWB at close range, and obviously the journalists were screened well enough to exclude guns and bombs.

And I don't know what video some commenters are looking at, but in the video above, Secret Service agents responded promptly. The head of the detail may have gotten next to Bush a second later than optimal, but he had to assess the threat and see that his men were taking care of it before moving toward a President who already was waving him off.

With comments like the one from Barb who says she can understand it because she hates Bush, it is no wonder that our country has become what it is today. If we don't respect our own people others won't either. I can't stand Barack Hussien Obama but I would not want him to be disrepected and not protected.
I have also been around for many years included Reagan, Clinton, Carter and I don't believe and never will believe that Bush is the worst of the bunch.

I am sorry it looks like CH is the one that stated it was ok to throw shoes because it was Bush.

Apparently Barb was not around for Jimmy Carter

Everyone is missing the most important point. Even though this man threw his shoes at President Bush certain things which were common before and still are common under governments in the region, did not happen.

He was not immediately cut down in a hail of gunfire. While he was arrested, he did not have his hands chopped off, his family was not arrested, his wife and daughters were not raped, he was not fed into a plastic shredding machine.

All of these things did not happen because of President Bush and the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces.

That's gotta count for something.

"You RESPECT the OFFICE regardless of his politics. But Liberals only seem to believe freedoms apply to themselves and those who they agree with."

Apparently they don't teach that in school anymore.

I know no end of people who think this is okay, and don't manage to connect it to themselves at all. They simply don't grasp the concept.

I saw this and immidiately talked to my dad...the first thing i said was "where was the secret service?" i was shocked at their slow reaction...i think it was disgraceful what the journalist did and i was happy to see him being restrained by other Iraqis...

that being said, i'm not too surprised that it happened...it obviously represents the resentment and hatred Iraqis are harboring torwards Bush and the Iraq war...in some ways we have been disgraceful towards them...taking away their country, killing thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians...imagine if they came here and killed thousands of innocent Americans, wouldn't you want to throw your shoes at their President/PM (providing that was how we insulted others)..Thank God though it was just shoes and nothing worse...

on a lighter note, i can not wait to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for their coverage of this incident

In Ann Compton's write-up she states that after the incident three Secret Service agents "took positions directly in front of the President." In fact, they didn't. To be directly in front of Bush they would need to be between the podium and Bush. His upper body was exposed the entire time even after the attacker was tackled leaving Bush open to further attack. I know he waved them off from removing him from the scene, but they didn't put their bodies between him and other potential attackers.

I'm surprised that there are so many commenters who aren't ashamed to admit that they were fine with this attack on Bush. How sick. Yet, I'm sure they'll be the first to scream if anyone does this to Obama. It doesn't matter if you like someone or not, no one deserves to be attacked and this attack was as much on us as citizens as it was an attack at Bush. You ought to know better.

It was not Restraint it was fear of the PC Laws.

I'm not fine with it no matter who the target was and it just as well could have been something more lethal than a shoe.

It just goes to show you how ungrateful these people are. I just saw a documentary of Sadam's regime and the thousand of fellow Iraqi's he and his two sons had killed or buried alive including children, animals, homes destroyed, and only God knows what else and they have the nerve to treat the one President that tried to give them democracy and their lives back. Americans need to help people that will appreciate our help!! Agree with President Bush or not, he did not deserve that treatment.