The most bizarre moments in George W Bush’s presidency

At a media conference in Iraq on 14th December 2008, Muntazer al-Zaidi, an Iraqi TV journalist, shouted “this is a farewell kiss, you dog!”, then threw a pair of shoes at President Bush, probably the most protected world leader ever, which he deftly avoided. By this time, the world already knows that shoes touching faces are the ultimate insult in Arab culture.

At that time, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was standing next to Bush and did not even seem to flinch.

It is to Bush’s credit that he laughed it off and wisecracked:

I didn’t know what the guy said, but I saw his sole.

If you want the facts, it was a size 10 shoe that he threw.

A video of that moment:

Still, in Bush’s own words, that was not the only bizarre moment of his presidency:

Look, I mean it was just a bizarre moment, but I’ve had other bizarre moments in the presidency. I remember when Hu Jintao was here. Remember we had the big event? He’s speaking, and all of a sudden I hear this noise, had no earthly idea what was taking place, but it was the Falungong woman screaming at the top of her lungs. It was kind of an odd moment.

He was talking about an incident in 2006 when Hu Jintao, the Paramount Leader of the People’s Republic of China, was heckled by a Chinese woman while giving speech at the White House lawn.

A video of that:

Then there’s the one in May 2008 when, at a US Air Force Academy graduation ceremony, he decided to have some fun. In full view of everybody, he gave a graduate, Theodore Shiveley a most bizarre salute: a “chest bump”: