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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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1 posted on 02/27/2005 1:37:11 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
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To: West Coast Conservative
That's not just wierd,
it's scary.
2 posted on 02/27/2005 1:38:32 PM PST by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: West Coast Conservative

this is too bizarre to be made up, i guess. Putin must think bush is really a pushover to have taken this long simply fire a few folks, without any arrests for forging government documents.


3 posted on 02/27/2005 1:39:17 PM PST by WoofDog123
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: West Coast Conservative

Does this mean that Dan Blather is a KGB operative?


5 posted on 02/27/2005 1:39:58 PM PST by PeoplesRepublicOfWashington (Re-elect Rossi in 2005!)
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To: West Coast Conservative
Putin was confused...CBS has so many embedded "journalist" from Pravda, he thought all of their reporters served at the whim of the government.
6 posted on 02/27/2005 1:40:09 PM PST by Drango (Freepmail me to get on/off the *NPR/PBS* ping list)
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To: West Coast Conservative

Hasn't anybody brought the Russians up to speed on Bloggers?

They are so last year.


7 posted on 02/27/2005 1:40:14 PM PST by Noachian (We're all one judge away from tyranny.)
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To: West Coast Conservative

I thought we got Dan Rather fired!

8 posted on 02/27/2005 1:40:50 PM PST by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: West Coast Conservative

One can only assume that a country that has always been steeped in misinformation would have a hard time distinguishing between truth and lies.


9 posted on 02/27/2005 1:41:00 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
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To: West Coast Conservative

More interesting will be to see how the MSM handles this.


10 posted on 02/27/2005 1:41:07 PM PST by Breyean
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To: West Coast Conservative
Did bush rebut him? If not he's just an idiot.
11 posted on 02/27/2005 1:42:23 PM PST by bahblahbah
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To: West Coast Conservative
Is this real or it is a joke?

If this is true, this moron Putin must understand that the White House did not fire Rather, but CBS let him go so they save their ratings.

Anyway, I do not believe this story at all of what Putin told President Bush, it is too dramatic and too dumb to be true. Another lie created by a delusional left wing liberal media.

12 posted on 02/27/2005 1:42:31 PM PST by jveritas
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To: West Coast Conservative

And this guy has his finger on the button. Scary.


13 posted on 02/27/2005 1:42:31 PM PST by finnman69 (cum puella incedit minore medio corpore sub quo manifestus globus, inflammare animos)
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To: West Coast Conservative
In Putin's world, all reporters tell the lies they have been instructed by government to "report" as news; he simply doesn't have a frame of reference since the Russian press is merely an extension of the government propaganda ministry. Rather was not fired because Bush ordered it; he was fired because he was caught by the people telling a deliberate lie.
14 posted on 02/27/2005 1:42:40 PM PST by 45Auto (Big holes are (almost) always better.)
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To: jveritas

Its real. I saw clip on FNS.


15 posted on 02/27/2005 1:43:14 PM PST by marajade
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To: West Coast Conservative

This is too good to be true.

Maybe ;)


16 posted on 02/27/2005 1:43:37 PM PST by SE Mom (God Bless our troops.)
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To: West Coast Conservative

I guess he just assumed the American government controlled their media just like he does.


17 posted on 02/27/2005 1:43:57 PM PST by mainepatsfan
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To: billorites

Frank Gannon's sleepover friends got Rather fired...? ;)


18 posted on 02/27/2005 1:44:13 PM PST by Darkwolf377 (Condi Rice: Yeaaahhh, baybee! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1350654/posts)
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To: Drango; maica; ColdSpringGirl
Putin was confused...CBS has so many embedded "journalist" from Pravda, he thought all of their reporters served at the whim of the government.

no bias in our MSM...only enough to have a former KGP leader think our govt. controls our media!

19 posted on 02/27/2005 1:44:27 PM PST by Freee-dame
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To: bahblahbah

And since that has been disproven time and time again, you can be sure that he (and his aides) corrected the record.


20 posted on 02/27/2005 1:44:41 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
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