Posted on 09/12/2013 9:31:16 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Americans shouldn't let Vladimir Putin's opinions get under their skin because the Russian president is a one-time KGB officer whose primary interest is nationalism, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday.
"While we have to deal with him as the president of Russia, we don't have to respect his views. We don't have to respect his opinions," said Gingrich, co-host of CNN's "Crossfire."
"And frankly, we should laugh at him when he tries to lecture America about exceptionalism, because he ain't exceptional. He's just one more in a long tradition of dictators and thugs."
Putin rattled some Americans, including high-profile figures in Washington, when he argued in a New York Times op-ed against U.S. military intervention in Syria. In the final paragraph, he took issue with the idea of America being the proverbial shining city on a hill.
"It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation," he wrote. ....
The former House speaker pointed to Putin's history as a former intelligence officer for the KGB, where he worked from 1975-1992.
Gingrich also argued Putin was behind the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008 and the conflict in Chechnya has killed thousands.
He expressed doubt the opinion piece was even written by Putin, saying it was likely penned by a Washington speechwriters.
"You can go through and read that document and you could find at every single stage find that it's a lie," Gingrich said. "For us to take it seriously is a sign that we have forgotten who Vladimir Putin is."
(Excerpt) Read more at politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com ...
I agree. I posted this yesterday.
This hurt so many elitists to the quick, The truth hurts. America is no longer exceptional. Abortion, rabid pro gay, massive unemployment and dependence, the dismantling of liberty, IRS targeting, massive debt, government snooping and the rise of the police state. Now tell me, why would a former communist and KGB agent find that anything other than ordinary?
So, why are people offended when the truth is slapped in your face? All that was exceptional about this country, you know, the one we are living in where a totally unqualified marxist puppet(Obama) tries to use a Reagan idea from over 30 years ago to invoke some kind of moral authority because he has none, now, be taken seriously by anyone with a brain?
Face it, nothing worse than an enemy who gets back at you by being painfully provocative but truthful.
The exceptional America is being taken down.
Obama is also a dictator and a Thug.
No arguments. The problem is that the commie thug is so much more politically astute than the Gang-Banger-in Chief that he is busily setting the stage for building a solid strategic stronghold in the Middle east and isolating us while he knows that he will not be alone if SHTF. To discount him is not a wise endeavor - Dingle-Barry and his sidekick Viet-Kerry have been played to the point they made idle threats, ate a lot of shoe leather, and now have Putin and Assad making demands. The international community, such as it is, respects us less than it respects Putin.
...and Obama is.........crickets
...and the problem with that is.....?
I think Newt finally lost it...ByBy
Putin is no bigger thug than the present occupant of the Whitehouse.....and quite a bit smarter!!!
Gingrich has made a career of repeating OTHER people’s ideas. He has done nothing to help the USA. AND he doesn’t care IF those repeated ideas come from a progressive, so screw him.
Gingrich is part of the problem.
I know exactly what Putin is.....doesn't change the fact he is smarter than fearless leader and is presently cleaning his clock!!!
Have you been paying attention the past 50 yrs.???
At least Putin knows who his people are and cares about his nation. Obama? I see nothing about him or a certain portion of this ‘nation’ that unites us nor makes us exceptional.
So where is Obama’s response to the Russian people? Of course, Putin wouldn’t let the Russian newspapers run it - which would be good for us, as it would surely go viral on the internet.
I say we let Newt write it, and let OBummer sign his name to it.
More worthy of respect than our own “leader”, because he does not try to hide what he is.
Can you provide any kind of link? Wikipedia has a write-up
on him that is very favorable. His approval rating is in the 60s and the Russian people apparently like him. They say he has brought patriotism back the country, and needed economic reforms. His policies are every bit as conservative as the GOP. Maybe more so. I was wrong when I said he was head of the KGB. He was an agent, and retired as Lt Colonel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin
Gingrich may be correct,
but he should spend some time looking in the mirror first...
- he’s lost his vision for American Exceptionalism too!
Putin and Obama are both commie thugs, Putin is just better at it. When I say to hell with them, I mean I want them to burn in hell. Until that day comes, as it surely must, neither can be discounted or ignored.
Neither of which are points of contention on this thread.
I appreciate the response and advice on a book to pick up.
Always aware of the commie tricks, having a dear Russian friend who is well past 60, knows Putin all too well and all that jazz.
There is just soooo much smoke filling the room and it’s hard to see the source so to say. My head hurts after reading about the IRS/Lois Lerner - Benghazi - Holder/Zimmerman et al - NSA - Snowden - Egypt - Syria and now, Russia.
That leaves out obamacare and amnesty. Not sure how the average person is expected to navigate through this crap.
Actually Vladimir Putin is a much better man than Cupcake and probably better than the neo-con Gingrich.
I'm no fan of Putin, I never bought Bush's swooning that "got he a sense of his soul" or the conservatives who claim that Putin is a good Christian man (he's nominally Russian Orthodox but I doubt his "religious values" are anything but public platitudes now that they have freedom of religion in Russia). There's no doubt the guy was a KGB commie and he is a ruthless dictator and thug. He's very cold and calculating. Putin cannot be trusted.
But all of that doesn't change the fact that Obama is ALSO a closet commie and thug. The difference between them is that Putin actually seems to care about western civilization and Obama doesn't, and Putin actually knows how to act Presidential and take charge of a situation. I'd never pick Putin over any other President, even a RINO like Ford or George H.W. Bush would be infinitely preferable (hell I'd even take a Dem like JFK or Truman over Putin, and I'm NOT one of those freepers who thinks JFK was a role model or even remotely conservative). But if you compare Putin to Obama, there's a good case to be made that Obama is more destructive.
Bottom line: If you have a situation where "our" President is trying to start a war with Christians and join forces with Al-Qaeda, and rampantly export the gay agenda all over the globe, and another President is OPPOSING him on that stuff, you don't attack the guy who is opposing the evil agenda, whatever his motivation is. And you certainly don't defend Obama and the direction America is going under his reign simply because he's "our President"
Hey, we had a far worse Russia dictator when Stalin was in power during WWII, and Americans were smart enough to support the Russians going after Hitler, and not bash Stalin for doing so.
Newt needs to STFU and go away. His comments aren't helping the situation.
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