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DRUDGE: Putin Grills Bush on Dan Rather
Drudge Report ^
| Sun Feb 27 2005
| Matt Drudge
Posted on 02/27/2005 1:37:05 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
George Bush knew Vladimir Putin would be defensive when Bush brought up the pace of democratic reform in Russia in their private meeting at the end of Bush's four-day, three-city tour of Europe. But when Bush talked about the Kremlin's crackdown on the media and explained that democracies require a free press, the Russian leader gave a rebuttal that left the President nonplussed, TIME magazine will report on Monday.
If the press was so free in the U.S., Putin asked, then why had those reporters at CBS lost their jobs? Bush was openmouthed. "Putin thought we'd fired Dan Rather," says a senior Administration official. "It was like something out of 1984."
TIME's John Dickerson: The Russians did not let the matter drop. Later, during the leaders' joint press conference, one of the questioners Putin called on asked Bush about the very same firings, a coincidence the White House assumed had been orchestrated. The odd episode reinforced the Administration's view that Putin's impressions of America are often based on urban myths fed to him by ill-informed aides.
Developing...
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections; Russia
KEYWORDS: bratislava; bush; bush43; cbs; cbsnews; euvisit; fakedocuments; freedomofthepress; putin; rather; rathergate; russia
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To: West Coast Conservative
good heavens. the russians are becoming the very caricatures that they have always resented.
41
posted on
02/27/2005 1:50:34 PM PST
by
smonk
To: vbmoneyspender
I'm sure they have a thread up already praising Putin for "standing up" to Bush.
To: pepperdog
If there is a Russian version of FR I'm sure he had it shut down.
To: bahblahbah
Did bush rebut him? If not he's just an idiot.This is half the story, later on a reporter mirrored the same statement as Putin, at which point, either Bush or one of his aides explained that the President does not have the authority to fire people in the press.
It may have been Bush himself, since the opening response to the reporter (who is russian media) was "do you think your free"?
44
posted on
02/27/2005 1:51:58 PM PST
by
Sonny M
("oderint dum metuant")
To: West Coast Conservative
My decoder ring told me that Rove fired Rather. He was no longer a "useful idiot".
45
posted on
02/27/2005 1:52:22 PM PST
by
Peelod
(Perversion is not festive)
To: West Coast Conservative
Wow, that is way way way scary. And this guy is selling crap to Iran and Damascus!? And running his own little country. no wonder states are breaking off right and left.
Ulness a pefect Rovian Storm caused Rathers fall ;-)(/DU ,Tinfoil time.)
46
posted on
02/27/2005 1:52:44 PM PST
by
Deetes
To: Dog
:P It've been better if I knew the guy's name, but what can ya do?
47
posted on
02/27/2005 1:53:21 PM PST
by
Darkwolf377
(Condi Rice: Yeaaahhh, baybee! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1350654/posts)
To: jveritas
" This story is as fake as a 3 dollar bill."
If any corroboration comes out from the russian government in the next few days would you reconsider?
This is just crazy enough to be true, it simply isn't a credible hit piece for a western audience to buy. I think the idea of the press being almost completely unaccountable to the government is much more alien to putin than the idea of the press literally being directed by a ministry is to us.
To: Peelod
Putin is probably wondering why Bush just didn't have Rather poisoned.
To: jveritas
This story is as fake as a 3 dollar billI guess 3 dollar bills are now legal tender.
Its on tape, and the clips are being shown on tv now.
Later on, a russian media reporter asked the same question, and then recieved an explanation about how US presidents don't get to fire reporters.
50
posted on
02/27/2005 1:55:02 PM PST
by
Sonny M
("oderint dum metuant")
To: West Coast Conservative
To: billorites
We
did get Rather fired.
52
posted on
02/27/2005 1:55:25 PM PST
by
jrewing
("Revenge is never stupid darlin', it's the single most satisfying feeling in the world." - JR Ewing)
To: West Coast Conservative
Check it out. They've been caught in their coordinated efforts, and so they're laying on the "our dog's bigger than your dog" routine pretty thick for the Russian people - and international consumption.
To: marajade
And what this clip has to do with this fake story about Putin grilling President Bush on Dan Rather and President Bush was openmouth and nonplussed when Putin told him that.
54
posted on
02/27/2005 1:55:53 PM PST
by
jveritas
To: sgtbono2002
Who is Dan Rather? He is a lying sack of crap. Oh THAT Dan Rather. I THOUGHT I heard that name before, but I had forgotten all about him :)
To: jveritas; All
Here is what
NEWSWEEK is reporting:
When Bush confronted his Russian counterpart about the freedom of the press in Russia, Putin shot back with an attack of his own: "We didn't criticize you when you fired those reporters at CBS."
It's not clear how well Putin understands the controversy that led to the dismissal of four CBS journalists over the discredited report on Bush's National Guard service. Yet it's all too clear how Putin sees the relationship between Bush and the American mediajust like his own. Bush's aides have long feared that former KGB officers in Putin's inner circle are painting a twisted picture of U.S. policy. So Bush explained how he had no power to fire American journalists. It made little difference. When the two presidents emerged for their joint press conference, one Russian reporter repeated Putin's language about journalists getting fired. Bush (already hot after an earlier question about his spying on U.S. citizens) asked the reporter if he felt free. "They obviously planted the question," said one of Bush's senior aides.
To: jveritas
57
posted on
02/27/2005 1:57:23 PM PST
by
marajade
To: West Coast Conservative
They all believe it.It was evident in the press conference.
The Russians used Rathers retirement and the firing of some execs at CBS, as a defense against American criticism over Russian media controls and government ownership.
It was hilarious!
58
posted on
02/27/2005 1:58:10 PM PST
by
Cold Heat
(FR is still a good place to get the news and slap around an idiot from time to time.)
To: West Coast Conservative
"If the press was so free in the U.S., Putin asked, then why had those reporters at CBS lost their jobs?"
That Putin is a Stalinist genius. He obviously understands the difference between government censorship and public outrage over a lying "journalist."
To: Reactionary
Wasn't his grandfather Stalin's cook?
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