Full Circle

Remember that Bush shoe thrower?

The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President George W. Bush leaned back in his chair and soaked in the round of applause.

This was not Baghdad or Damascus or Beirut. This was Geneva, where Muntadhar al-Zeidi was given a hero's welcome Monday far warmer than the subdued reception in his own homeland.

"I am one of the victims of the occupation," al-Zeidi said at a press conference alongside two local politicians, repeating his allegations that he was severely tortured, including with electric shocks, during his nine months of Iraqi detention.

I don't approve of what he did but I sure understand. If some uninvited foreign leader thrashed your country and turned it into one big catastrofrak you'd be hella mad, too.

Al-Zeidi clarified that it was Iraqis, not Americans, who tortured him in detention. He also declined gifts from wealthy Arabs until he's set up a foundation to help his people.

Meanwhile, what's the "throwee" been up to?

Former President George W. Bush has got a whole new gang. Goodbye, Condi, Cheney and Rumsfeld. Hello, Terry Bradshaw, Zig Ziglar and Rudy Giuliani.

Bradshaw, Ziglar and Giuliani are among the other featured speakers at an Oct. 26 "Get Motivated!" business seminar in Fort Worth, TX, where the former president will be the "special guest speaker." That won't be Bush's only Get Motivated appearance. See the full image promoting his Dec. 2 seminar here.

The all-day event next week will be held at the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena. Tickets are apparently $19. That's not per person -- that's per office.

So the former leader of the free world now shills for motivational mega shows. And they're charging $19?! They should pay for wasting people's time. I mean, exactly how is Bush going to motivate people? By talking about how he successfully saddled the country with two wars and a collapsing economy?

Add to that how distasteful it is that the first thing this man did after leaving office was to lend his name and the stature of his position not to any humanitarian or philanthropic cause but to making some easy cash. Wingnuts didn't waste much time criticizing Obama for using his clout in bidding for the Olympics, so what do they have to say about this?

Rachel Maddow is on the case:


Stay the class act that you are, Dubya.

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