DRUDGE: Putin Grills Bush on Dan Rather

Drudge Report ^ | Sun Feb 27 2005 | Matt Drudge

[smonk]

good heavens. the russians are becoming the very caricatures that they have always resented.

[mainepatsfan]

I'm sure they have a thread up already praising Putin for "standing up" to Bush.

[mainepatsfan]

If there is a Russian version of FR I'm sure he had it shut down.

[Sonny M]

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"?

[Peelod]

My decoder ring told me that Rove fired Rather. He was no longer a "useful idiot".

[Deetes]

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.)

[Darkwolf377]

:P It've been better if I knew the guy's name, but what can ya do?

[WoofDog123]

" 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.

[mainepatsfan]

Putin is probably wondering why Bush just didn't have Rather poisoned.

[Sonny M]

This story is as fake as a 3 dollar bill

I 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.

[squarebarb]

[jrewing]

We did get Rather fired.

[anniegetyourgun]

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.

[jveritas]

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.

[BifBimble]

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 :)

[West Coast Conservative]

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 media—just 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.

[marajade]

?

[Cold Heat]

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!

[Reactionary]

"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."

[mainepatsfan]

Wasn't his grandfather Stalin's cook?