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February 27, 2005

Pooty Poot Putin

He just doesn't get it:

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."

A few thoughts:

• The pace of democratic reform in Russia? Uh, I think we call it "moving backwards."

• Why were those reporters fired? Because THE BLOGOSPHERE IS MIGHTY AND WILL CRUSH YOU! Or, perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they lied, that they passed off forged documents as the real thing, and that they rejected any pretense of objectivity.

  Now, of course, CBS didn't have to fire them for all of that, but it was a wise move to save what little face remained.

  The essential difference, however, is that private enterprise in America punishes journalists for lying, while - in Russia - the government punishes journalists for even hinting at the truth.

That Putin can't (or refuses to) grasp all of this should be demonstration enough that Russian democracy is flatlining.

Beep...beep....beeeeeeeeeeeep.