Blogs and Stories
Artful Dodging
Shoes aren’t the only things President Bush had to duck this week—Arab cartoonists from around the world have been taking their best shots in newspapers, on websites and blogs. Do the following cartoons (complete with translated captions) hit the mark or step on the joke?
Plus: Salameh Nematt on the Arab world’s reaction to shoegate.
Click Image To View Gallery
The Right Dumps Carrie
Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
What's Joe's Problem?
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Geithner's Stock Plummeting
Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
Qaddafi Struts In
Salameh Nematt is an international writer for The Daily Beast. He is the former Washington bureau chief for the international Arab daily Al Hayat, where he reported on US foreign policy, the war in Iraq, and the US drive for democratization in the broader Middle East. He has also written extensively on regional and global energy issues and their political implications.
The Pharaoh Comes to Washington
Salameh Nematt is an international writer for The Daily Beast. He is the former Washington bureau chief for the international Arab daily Al Hayat, where he reported on US foreign policy, the war in Iraq, and the US drive for democratization in the broader Middle East. He has also written extensively on regional and global energy issues and their political implications.
Iran's Nervous Neighbors
Salameh Nematt is an international writer for The Daily Beast. He is the former Washington bureau chief for the international Arab daily Al Hayat, where he reported on US foreign policy, the war in Iraq, and the US drive for democratization in the broader Middle East. He has also written extensively on regional and global energy issues and their political implications.
For me-- the winner is the New Shoe Patriot Missiles.
(No threat is too small for a little shock & awe!)
You know I couldn't stop laughing about this until I read the words Mr. al-Zeidi said as he threw his shoes at Bush. His anger towards Bush was fueled by this dirty war for profit we have going on in Iraq. How many people have died because of "faulty intelligence"? How many people have been injured in this search for WMD that the United States sold or gave to Hussein? I ask the Iraqi people for forgiveness for the actions of our leaders and the inaction of it's citizens. I applaud the action of al-Zeidi and appreciate it's cultural significance. Thank you for the early Christmas present! Marvin in Dallas
Sweets. Flowers. Now shoes. Yeah, that worked out real well.
I think the "If I had known this would be the end, I wouldn't have started" cartoon has the best mix of humor and painfully pointed commentary.
I would like to think that at least one person over there realizes two things.
- That they can print cartoons like these, and we don't start massive demonstrations chanting, "Death to (insert country here)!
-That we can print even worse and not have to worry about retribution.
Yes, they need to release the man who did that, because by keeping him in prison and allegedly torturing him, we're not sending the message that freedom of expression is OK.
Is anyone else bothered by the consistently heavy aviation themes? I mean, I get that the shoe was flying, and I'm all for the shoe thrower (my hope is that Bush is plagued by Nikes for life), but I guess the one with just a shoe on an airplane headed for the US was a little weird. Anybody else uncomfortable?
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.
Please log in to leave comments.