I agree with his sentiments, but he's still guilty

Look, I can certainly sympathize with Muntader al-Zaidi, thrower of shoes. Via the Times:

“In that moment, I saw nothing but Bush, and I felt the blood of the innocents flowing under his feet while he was smiling that smile,” he said at the hearing.

Dude. I know. His smile really was insufferable. I can only imagine how it would feel to an Iraqi citizen.

But you can't assault the President of the United States. Whatever you can say about W., the man can duck. If his reflexes had been off (say, if he had missed his nap that day) and he had been struck in the face by a flying piece of forcibly-thrown footwear, he could have sustained a significant facial or ocular injury. In throwing the shoes, al-Zaidi crossed from protest to assault.

No matter how much I agree with his feelings about Bush, his manner of expression was criminal. Hailing him as a hero is misguided. Nobody would be lauding his right to freely express himself had he been tossing his shoes at Obama. (Well, OK, I'm sure some people would be. But nobody sane.)