Second Stringers?

My first thought, in relation to the incident of the Iraqi reporter throwing his shoes at Bush, was apparently the same as everyone else's: I was impressed at how quick Bush's reflexes were. (Best joke on this topic from The Rachel Maddow Show last night: "To dodge the shoe, Bush did something he's never done before-- lean to the left.")

The second thing that occurred to me was to wonder where the hell the Secret Service guys were? I mean, okay, you're not expecting the guy to throw a shoe ("Honestly, who throws a shoe? That really hurt!"), so I can forgive the first one, but the guy manages to take his other shoe off and throw it before a Secret Service guys gets anywhere near him? What the fuck?

I mean, if that guy had a gun, or even a bunch of poison darts in his pocket he could have gotten like ten shots or throws off in that time! Isn't the President's Secret Service detail supposed to be more on the ball than that, especially when the President is in a dangerous place like, oh, say, Iraq???

I'm wondering if Bush has the second stringers now and Obama has the first stringers. Do you think? Are the young guys ready like coiled springs to leap into action in Chicago and the old guys about to retire with bad knees thinking about their pensions traveling with Bush?

One wonders.