Reason Among the Shoe Throwers: Man on the street interviews from Dupont Circle on Inauguration eve

Reason.tv Editor in Chief Nick Gillespie hits the streets in Washington D.C. to ask Obama supporters why they were throwing shoes at a giant inflatable George W. Bush and what their biggest hopes and fears are for the Obama Administration.

Shot and edited by Dan Hayes. Approximately 3 minutes.

Go here for embed code, iPod and HD versions, and more videos.

Comments

[Blago]

Fuck those shoe-throwers. I'm going to fucking prison. You think throwing a fucking shoe at a fucking car-dealership reject blow-up changes anything? Wake the fuck up.

[Lefiti]

Did you hear? Those bastards at the White House trashed the place before handing it over to Obama.

You stay classy, Republicans.

[Warty]

It seems that the idea of Obama fucking up had never occurred to some of them before.

[ed]

why they were throwing shoes at a giant inflatable George W. Bush?

To "...make Americans included."
New president...move along now...that's a good retard. What's your favorite blog?

[Pro Libertate]

One funny thing about the Clinton staffers trashing parts of the WH and the various executive offices--the Bush administration went out of its way to downplay the incident, for the most part. I think that might've been its last classy moment.

[JLM]

Ummmm, Lefiti?

That article that you linked was written in 2002 and described vandalism left for Bush 43 by the Clinton team. Did you read it?

[Ha ha ha ha ha!]

Good one, Lefiti (whichever one you are). If your shoe-throwing colleagues didn't click the link, your readers would never get the joke... which is why it's so hilarious!

[Pro Libertate]

Lefiti is performance art. Perhaps he should have a signature line or something like that. If he were like most street artists, he'd ask for money after his performance.

[Pro Libertate]

Actually "he" should read "they."

[Jammy Jam]

Hey lefiti, you may want to actually read the article. left to right, top to bottom. group letters together to form words, words form sentences. or you could just look at the date if that's too much work for you. you may have just seen it was from the NY times and thought it was going to be sufficiently critical on the right. wrong again.

[Pro Libertate]

Um, I'm pretty sure that the Lefiti poster du jour knows that he posted the Clinton staffer shenanigans article. It was a double switch-up breaking ball of irony.

[..]

Respond to the troll and you become a troll.

That was one of the good lefiti trolls. Worthy of acknowledging his presence.

Good to hear those commies fear a rightwing counter-revolution.C'mon libertarian capitalist-roaders, let's do our part!

[Elemenope]

Respond to the troll and you become a troll.

Utter horse.

[Pro Libertate]

If a fake troll acts like a troll, he is a troll. If a fake troll doesn't act like a troll or makes a big wink while "trolling", he is not a troll.

[Pro Libertate]

That said, it doesn't matter what's in your secret heart of hearts if everyone thinks you're a troll.

Just kidding. Trolling is a subjective determination, decided by the Urkobold, not by some sort of lame consensus. If you aren't certified "Troll" by Urkobold Laboratories, then you can't troll. It's as simple as that. That's what happened to Edward--he lost his certification.

[Lefiti]

Wow, this whole thread is about me, and this is my first post. Well done, fuckwits!

Nobody cares about your stupid fucking man-in-the-street interviews, Nick, you fucking waste if time.

[Gertrude Stein]

A troll is a troll is a troll.

[Gertrude Stein]

Period.

[Pro Libertate]

But what is a troll?

[Gertrude Stein]

A putrid ooze.

[Pro Libertate]

Gertrude,

I believe you addressed trolling quite effectively in the early part of the last century: "An audience is always warming but it must never be necessary to your work." Without an audience, of course, trolling is quite pointless.

Or you could just say, "There is no there there", which also works.

[Gertrude Stein]

"There is no there there"

Thanks. But when it comes to trolls, this is understood, at least amongst the educated.

[Minion of URKOBOLD]

NOW IS THE TIME TO GIVE THE WEIBSKOBOLD HER COOKIES

[Pro Libertate]

Hemingway was over last weekend. He says that you're far more manly than he is.

[Pro Libertate]

Not you, VM, Gertrude. Who also said, "Everyone gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense."

[cunnivore]

That still makes it look like Inflata-Bush has some serious nasal hygiene issues...

[cunnivore]

And keep in mind that most inflatable humanoids suffer far worse indignities than having shoes thrown at them.

[Gertrude Stein]

Trolling is a subjective determination, decided by the Urk__

Says who? Gertrude's minions say otherwise.

[BakedPenguin]

Lots of those people in the street fear the right wingers. Did they know they were talking to one?

[Pro Libertate]

Well, I thought the answers were kind of sad. Domestically, Obama supporters seem to want us all "unified", which I read as meaning that they want us all to think like they do, not like we do. That's so contrary to what America stands for that I'm not sure how to even comment on it. And the woman who said that her goal was for Obama to get Bush out of office. . .she may be the stupidest person on the planet. Maybe I misheard her.

In foreign policy, apparently, we need to make all of the other countries like us. Uh, huh. I'd rather that they continued to respect us, which they damned well do, regardless of what they may say. That may be despite Bush, but it's true all the same.

As for the shoes, I must laugh. Like everyone who saw that video, those Obama supporters know that they could never hit the real Bush with a shoe. He'd dodge them all, all while giggling that silly giggle of his. How pathetic that they can hit his only effigy with shoes, and even that only after his apotheosis to Ex-President Bush.

[Pro Libertate]

Minions? You're not the real Gertrude Stein. She had admirers. How disappointed I am. Ernie said that you were dead.

I'm going to go sip fragrant, colorless alcohols with Ernie and Scott.

[Elemenope]

Pro L --

People do stupid things on their day of Jubilee.

[dbcooper]

The "restructure mortgages to make them affordable" guy reminded me of why I am a misanthrope.

[Gertrude Stein]

We are what we are.

[dbcooper]

The "restore our dignity in the world" woman could start by losing 100lbs, reducing the testosterone dosing, pledging to wear one less piece of polar-fleece per day, and well that would do for a start.

[BakedPenguin]

Lefiti's been spoofing me here, too. Here's his latest adventure!

[Pro Libertate]

Just got back from drinking with Ernie and Scott. It was a fine occasion, a really fine one, until Zelda showed up and started screaming at Scott. Ernie and I took our drinks outside with Alice and watched some bullfighting.

Elemenope,

True. On the other hand, this is the same kind of crap they were saying before they elected this guy. Only they weren't throwing shoes, then.

BP,

Excellent work as always.

[spool]

I used to be a liberal, then a socialist, but Lefiti has converted me to anarcho-capitalism.

[BakedPenguin]

Elemenope - Jubilee? Are you sure you don't mean Festival?

Pro Lib - thanks! Hope Ernie didn't drink all the tequila before you got there.

[Pro Libertate]

Nah, he and Scott are on an absinthe kick.

Got tight last night on absinthe and did knife tricks. Great success shooting the knife underhand into the piano.

[Todd]

Yes, let's all think together like the Borg then we can be unified. Brilliant answers from the unwashed masses. They must have spent hours memorizing their buttons before the interview. I especially like how they are so concerned for Obama's health but think nothing of parading around with poster art of a gun to Bush's head, or a noose around his neck or a sword cutting his head off. http://www.zombietime.com

Liberal fascists like their totalitarian fathers.

[Lester Hunt]

What's most amazing to me is that most of the things these people expect him to do are things he obviously will not do any time soon and in some cases (eg., bringing the troops home from Iraq) he has actually said he will not do.

[Nudder Lefiti]

Boy, can't you just feel the love bursting forth from these wankers' pen--er, hearts? Meanwhile, word (and the camera) has it that people in Iran are really BURNING with enthusiasm for America's new Messiah.

[John C. Randolph]

I remember that story that the Lefiti spoofer linked to. I'm sure that whenever Obama leaves office, he'll be a far better sport about it than Clinton was.

-jcr

[John C. Randolph]

I read as meaning that they want us all to think like they do, not like we do.

Every time I've ever heard a politician calling for unity, I think of the enormous degree of unity that totalitarians always seem to muster.

-jcr

[MAX HATS]

Well, I thought the answers were kind of sad. Domestically, Obama supporters seem to want us all "unified", which I read as meaning that they want us all to think like they do, not like we do. That's so contrary to what America stands for that I'm not sure how to even comment on it. And the woman who said that her goal was for Obama to get Bush out of office. . .she may be the stupidest person on the planet. Maybe I misheard her.

In foreign policy, apparently, we need to make all of the other countries like us. Uh, huh. I'd rather that they continued to respect us, which they damned well do, regardless of what they may say. That may be despite Bush, but it's true all the same.

As for the shoes, I must laugh. Like everyone who saw that video, those Obama supporters know that they could never hit the real Bush with a shoe. He'd dodge them all, all while giggling that silly giggle of his. How pathetic that they can hit his only effigy with shoes, and even that only after his apotheosis to Ex-President Bush.

Maybe. Or maybe the world isn't full of strawmen. Maybe the views of tens of millions of Obama voters aren't well represented by 20 guys throwing shoes at a balloon. Maybe.

For a guy who thinks fear of regulation was the primary driver of the finance crisis. . .forget it. Keep imagining you're so much smarter than the rest of the world. It's funny.

[MAX HATS]

Liberal fascists like their totalitarian fathers.

When did this site turn into Free Republic? This is unreal.

THERE WAS ANOTHER GUY WHO PROMISED TO SHUT DOWN SECRET PRISONS. HE WAS CALLED, uh, wait a minute. . .

[Les]

I'd rather that they continued to respect us, which they damned well do, regardless of what they may say. That may be despite Bush, but it's true all the same.

I'm not sure what you mean by "respect," and, "us."

[syd]

i love you, "culty."

[Justice]

"When did this site turn into Free Republic? This is unreal."

When did this site turn into the New Republic where no different thought is tolerated?

Glad to see the "tolerance" hats are on for the brown shirts who can't stand free thought.

[Assholio]

Guilty white middle class shoethrower 1:
"I sure am glad Obama is throwing Bush out of office"

Guilty white middle class shoethrower 2:
"Me too, I feel like there more we should do though - you know - to shoe that the our country is not a racist nation"

Guilty white middle class shoethrower 1:
"Well, I for one have been sucking off all the black people in my office"

Guilty white middle class shoethrower 2:
"great idea, I'm going to find a homeless person of color and let them rape me."

[Gilbert Martin]

It's a clean sweep.

Every last one of those people is a complete idiot.

[Brint]

Why the vitriol? For a random sampling of "folks on the street" with the pressure of a camera in their face and some open-ended questions in front of them, they seemed pretty smart. I expected MUCH worse.

[Gilbert Martin]

Obama supporters and smart people are mutually exclusive categories.

[SugarFree]

to ask Obama supporters why they were throwing shoes at a giant inflatable George W. Bush

This has a very long history, we just confine it to symbolic gestures at this point.

Frequently, but not always, the captured enemy ruler or general was taken to the Tullianum and there strangled (this was the fate of Jugurtha and Vercingetorix, though some enemy leaders, such as Zenobia of Palmyra, were spared).

[Jack]

I think you'll find that most of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party shares as much informed "common-sense libertarianism" with you as they share economic policy with the DLC. The attachment of libertarianism to the adolescent notion that all things can be defined as property & the self-interested action of corporate persons is always, on average, in the common good is the only basic premise I disagree with that made me part of the Obama campaign rather than the Paul campaign. That, and the libertarian movement's status as both dumpster for socially unacceptable (for good reason) bigoted views, & summer home of the RNC. Both have hurt the attempt to get the libertarian agenda anywhere by tilting the views of even people who don't think of themselves as racists/Republicans - I saw more well-supported dissections of Bush Administration lies on DailyKOS, of all places, than on Reason.

Hell, you've still got wild interpretations of a Supreme Court ruling on the 4th Amendment on the frontpage, when a whistleblower has said that the NSA's plan for the last eight years was basically -
STORE METADATA ON EVERY COMMUNICATION MADE BY ANYONE, AND RECORD EVERYTHING FROM ALL JOURNALISTS & LEFT-WING POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS

If the libertarian movement was credible & viable separate from the RNC, this would be a riots-in-the-streets type discovery.

[bigbigslacker]

I find it curious the New York Times article has a banner ad for it's sister outlet AlJazeera.

(see kiddies, THAT'S how you troll)

[R C Dean]

The attachment of libertarianism to the adolescent notion that all things can be defined as property

Well, except people, of course. And all those inalienable rights. And many libertarians reject the legitimacy of intellectual property. Nice understanding of libertarianism you got, there.

& the self-interested action of corporate persons is always, on average, in the common good

Nice straw-man. I would just love to see a link to any self-described libertarian espousing this position.

[MAX HATS]

When did this site turn into the New Republic where no different thought is tolerated?

Glad to see the "tolerance" hats are on for the brown shirts who can't stand free thought.

So because I made fun of someone, I am restricting their right to free speech?

Here's more "intolerance" - you're an idiot.

There, I said you're an idiot. Now you are less free.

"Brownshirts." You've got to be kidding me. You cannot be real.

Presumably I shouldn't be allowed to say mean things about conservatives, right? And you call leftists totalitarians? You have no idea what words mean, or freedom.

[Robert Enders]

Jack,

"If the libertarian movement was credible & viable separate from the RNC, this would be a riots-in-the-streets type discovery."

I'm not rioting in the streets. Are you? If not, does that mean that the Democratic Party is not "credible and viable(sic)separate from the RNC"?

[Andrew the Noisy]

I saw more well-supported dissections of Bush Administration lies on DailyKOS, of all places, than on Reason.

One also sees more masses celebrated in a Roman Catholic church than in your average auditorium.

And more drunk people in a bar than in a restaurant.

I am even told that soldiers tend to shoot people more often in war than policemen.

Incidentally, the term "common-sense" before the name of a political philosophy or set of policies usually translates as "watered-down" or "redefined to fit my own personal estimation of what it should be."

[Catherine]

Now Obama can why Europe found Iraqi WMDs and why Libya also had them:
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3451012,00.html

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?channel_id=2&story_id=4878

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005016

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/10/international/middleeast/10nati.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/07/politics/07NUKE.html

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/19/yellowcake-from-saddam/

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Libya's WMD materials:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/25/world/25nuke.html?scp=1&sq=In%20Nuclear%20Net%92s%20Undoing,%20a%20Web%20of%20Shadowy%20Deals&st=cse

German engineer helped Libya with nuke weapons
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1222017555665

Not the only time Europe secretly helped Arab dictators out before US attacks....
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,445450,00.html

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Saddam's (and Jimmy Carter's) links to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2092460,00.html

What about Jimmy Carter's links also?
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/cover053106.htm

Now back to the King of Swing, Saddam!
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/550kmbzd.asp

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/?id=110005133

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110005016

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007809

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21711

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=22055

And then these Nazi teachings for all Arabs (Heil Hitler????):
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/550aogvn.asp

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Iran on way to atomic bomb capability -- IAEA
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE48P50320080926
[The IAEA says this, despite in the spring Obama saying otherwise (that Iran was just "misunderstood")]

Weapons grade materials at Arab Syria nuke site:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1225910085646&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122783079294562937.html

http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/iaea-chief-will-confront-syria-with-imagery-of-suspect-site-569728

[Sally Cline]

I love the comment of the woman who desires the world to see us as dignified. She was throwing things at a image of George W Bush? Okay---------