[demlosers]

Notebook
Vladimir Putin, CBS News Loyalist
By



Sunday, Feb. 27, 2005

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. 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."

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. (At a past summit, according to Administration aides, Putin asked Bush whether it was true that chicken producers split their production into plants that serve the U.S. and lower-quality ones that process substandard chicken for Russia.) U.S. aides say that to help fight against this kind of misinformation, they are struggling to build relationships that go beyond Putin. "We need to go deeper into the well into other levels of government," explains an aide. --By John F. Dickerson

From the Mar. 07, 2005 issue of TIME magazine

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1032354,00.html

[Incorrigible]

How ya doin Jomini? Please check in.

This is a cheap suit, bad haircut alert!

[GVnana]

Oh man. Russia has a long way to go.

[cricket]

They need Fox News!

[Tempest]

I think Putin gets his news from his comrades at the DU.

[bert]

"Putin thought we'd fired Dan Rather," says a senior Administration official. "It was like something out of 1984

Ha Ha HA what a joke. Vlad is pulling the chains and getting results.

What a delicious response. It shows that things are always as they seem and can be manipulated to produce desirable results.

I'm not downing W but complimenting Vlad for excellant gamesmanship.

[hosepipe]

WELL... what was Bush's ANSWER.?..

Putin had a good point.. it WAS the job of the FCC to investigate MSM meddling in an presidential election so open handlely as an arm of ONE PARTY or any election for that matter.. and cBS investigated themselves..

Maybe Putin is NOT so ill-informed.. since the FCC is run by the RINO Powells son.. with a 300 million dollar budget(2004).. and allows outright sedition... NO encourages outright sedition..

Them Russkies had a unique way to say, STFU... fix your own system..