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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

The Vox Box

Bush proves he has great reflexes at Baghdad press conference

Many have seen this by now, but we still gotta discuss...

At a press conference in Baghdad, Bush dodged not one but two shoes hurled at him by an angry Iraqi journalist who then yelled “This is a farewell kiss, you dog!” in Arabic. The shoe was tossed after Bush said, "The war is not over," Bush said, adding that "it is decisively on it's way to being won."

Bush responded, saying he wasn't going to acknowlege the insult. (In Iraq, this is quite the insult--to toss a shoe at someone. It is their version of us mooning him, I guess.) He said the guy was "just trying to get on T.V."

As reported from a CNN interivew: "So what if the guy threw his shoe at me?" Bush told a reporter in response to a question about the incident.


"Let me talk about the guy throwing his shoe. It's one way to gain attention. It's like going to a political rally and having people yell at you. It's like driving down the street and having people not gesturing with all five fingers.

"It's a way for people to draw attention. I don't know what the guy's cause is. But one thing is for certain. He caused you to ask me a question about it. I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it.

QUESTION: What do you think? Should Bush acknowlege the insult and apologize? Or is he taking the right attitude and refusing to give it any weight?



In 2006, then-editor Steve Smith of The Spokesman-Review had the idea of starting a publication for an often forgotten audience: teenagers. The Vox Box was a continuation of the Vox, an all-student staffed newspaper published by The Spokesman-Review. High school student journalists who staffed the Vox made all content decisions as they learn about the trade of journalism. This blog's mission was to give students an opportunity to publish their voices. The Vox Box and the Vox wrapped up in June 2009, but you can follow former staffers' new blog at http://voxxiez.blogspot.com.