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In the past two weeks, Dr. Ben Marble of Gulfport, Mississippi, lost his house, saw his wife give birth by flashlight and became an instant celebrity for telling Vice President Dick Cheney to go fuck himself.
"I tell you it was a good feeling at the time. It did feel really good. Wasn't quite as good as having sex or something, but it was good," Marble said of the Sept. 8 event, captured live on CNN.
Seconds later, however, he noticed this "panic-stricken look on the Secret Service guys' faces, like they were about to tackle me or I didn't know what." Marble walked briskly from the scene, leaving his friend Jay, who'd captured the whole thing on video camera. Marble told the man who'd just patted him down to "have a nice day" before heading home. He was later detained by two men in fatigues, questioned and released.
But that wasn't the end of it. The incident, remarkable for an administration renowned for screening its audiences, was not only captured live on CNN but replayed on numerous websites and blogs, and even earned a screening on The Daily Show.
Rob Kall, publisher and editor of the progressive website OpEdNews.com, said Marble could serve for some as a hero.
"Cindy Sheehan for some has been a person who has been inspiring people," said Kall. "They want to find somebody who shows courage, who takes initiative, who does something that can make a difference. And Ben Marble, he did."
Kall, for one, is hoping that Marble will take advantage of his infamy to further the anti-Bush, anti-war message.
Marble, an emergency room doctor and indie rock musician who looks as though he were torn from the pages of Spin, said he doesn't consider his actions heroic.
"A lot of people are saying that. I was just mad and I lost my temper," he said.
Still, Marble hasn't exactly been shy about getting his 15 minutes, either.
Hurricane Katrina Sucked, a website Marble created to post pictures of the wreckage of his home and neighborhood, quickly sprouted a "Go fuck yourself Mr. Cheney" link, complete with links to the Daily Show clip, a Cafe Press store selling "Go Fuck Yourself Mr. Cheney" merchandise, and two eBay auctions, one selling permission to download his original 30-minute video for $20.
A second auction, featuring the video his friend Jay took of the event along with the "I Pity the Fool!" T-shirt Marble was wearing at the time, has repeatedly been taken down by eBay, though it managed to attract bids above $2,000 at one point.
"At first I had 'F U' then I had asterisk, asterisk," Marble said, referring to the auction eBay repeatedly removed. "Well, they said that was too descriptive or whatever so I changed it to 'F' asterisk, asterisk, asterisk. They removed that one. Now I don't know."
Though he isn't complaining. Marble, who attributes his internet savvy to years of promoting his bands Yoon and dR. O, said, "I knew that if eBay deleted it, more people would be interested in it."
Oddly, Marble's wife Lisa is also featured in CNN's hurricane coverage after she, heroically some might say, managed to make it through an entire hurricane and evacuation while having contractions.
"We had to go to Gulfport Memorial, where they had been delivering babies on a flashlight, and she was delivered by a midwife, no epidural or anything," Marble said. "That was kind of rough on her. It was pretty much like the exorcist or something."
In addition to selling about 20 downloads thus far, Marble's received support from journalists like Jackson Thoreau, who suggested on Kall's website that people who appreciated Marble's comments to Cheney should help him out.
By Tuesday, Marble had received $900 in donations via his PayPal account. He's done multiple radio interviews, spoken to Hustler and received invitations to appear on Bill Maher's and Howard Stern's shows.
Marble, who's been treating numerous hurricane-related ailments at the hospital he works for, stresses that he's not a charity case. But he's not turning down fans who want to purchase a piece of history from him.
"If they were amused by what happened and think this is a good thing and want to help me rebuild what I've lost, then feel free to buy it," he said.
