Vladimir Putin on Hillary Clinton.


Damn, everyone is hatin!

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/Putin_vs_Clinton.html

2/15/2008 11:04:30 AM

Perhaps OUR head of state should stop acting like a 5 year old.

I heard he was pouting on the news this morning b.c congress did not want to pass his Big Brother domestic spying legislation.

2/15/2008 11:08:54 AM

not meant to be a thread bashing GW, since it's been done. THis is a thread about Vladmir Putin's words on Hillary.

2/15/2008 11:13:49 AM

i wouldn't worry too much about what a murdering pedophile thinks about me

2/15/2008 11:18:28 AM

Yeah, I try not to think of what Ted Kennedy's opinion is of me either.

2/15/2008 11:22:47 AM

Putin is seriously a bad ass.

Dude is like

Democracy? Don't be the n00b. We are democratic. So long as we listen to me.

2/15/2008 11:35:37 AM

Kinda sounds like Darth Cheney

2/15/2008 12:27:32 PM

Quote :

"Putin is seriously a bad ass. Dude is like Democracy? Don't be the n00b. We are democratic. So long as we listen to me."

this is why cult of personality prospers

what little I hear about him is very bad, and it is my greatest hope that he doesn't decide that he likes power enough to become president for life

2/15/2008 12:35:05 PM

You know

I like how you're assuming democracy is the answer to every societies' governing needs.

2/15/2008 12:39:53 PM

it is the BEST answer to every societies' governing needs

2/15/2008 12:44:52 PM

^ i believe this is true only if you have a educated population with a functioning economy.

2/15/2008 12:46:10 PM

the hell it is

i want no tyrants

EVER

2/15/2008 12:48:06 PM

Very few people want tyrants.

That doesn't mean that American democracy is right for everyone.

2/15/2008 12:57:40 PM

^^ No worries my good son as..

a.) we have educated population (debatable for some people)

b.) a functioning and thriving economy.

without b. corruption is capable of flourishing as well as increased instability which leads to risk of coup.

without a. populations are easily swayed and manipulating into potentially allowing a tyrant to consolidate power. Also, the uneducated can be used to assert the political will of the more educated which allows events like teh suicide bombings in Iraq to occur.

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:13 PM. Reason : a]

2/15/2008 1:13:12 PM

you're the kind of puppet that the powerful find the easiest to sway

...

i mean, are you serious... what are you asking for?

when things are bad or the people are stupid we need a tyrant to prevent a tyrant

use your brain for half a second, will you?

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:20 PM. Reason : .]

2/15/2008 1:16:38 PM

haha it is your simple mindedness and black v white thinking that in the contrary makes you such.

On paper democracy sounds good. In the real world it is often a grey issue. How do you differentiate who is a democracy and who is not?? While obviously N. Korea is no democracy many industrialized countries probably fall somewhere in the middle from our ideal democratic model of that during Athens Greece.

An elected legislature can just as easily stomp on the common man as a dictator. What happens also when our "democratically" elected leaders are really the puppets for wealthy interest groups which makes the actual system corrupt.

ironic as you probably follow along bush's war cries USA #1 , democracy in iraq, we will get dem terrorist towel heads yeeehawww.

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:21 PM. Reason : a]

2/15/2008 1:20:21 PM

yes idealistically you are RIGHT.

however given the situations i posted above this often does not become possible nor practical.

iraq is a good example. you can not simply force a democratic system on a people who do not care for or even understand the reasoning of it and are more concerned about jihad following the babblings of the local cleric.

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:25 PM. Reason : a]

2/15/2008 1:22:18 PM

you're talking uninsightful political science 101 jibberish

the type of crap that is completely obvious and most serious people push past

but you're right, THE "IDEALISTIC" whatever that looks good "ON PAPER" is blah blah blah

give it a rest

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:30 PM. Reason : .]

2/15/2008 1:25:02 PM

yay democracy USA #1 lets roll the tanks outs and spread freedom around the globe stamping out those evil dictators woohoo

2/15/2008 1:26:25 PM

wrong

we all know about iraq

it has less to do with governance than stirring up a hornets nest and then asking the little fuckers to play nice

babylon is one of the fucking cradles of civilization and if you think they are not capable of maintaining a democracy than I don't know why I'm even discussing this with you

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:31 PM. Reason : .]

2/15/2008 1:29:03 PM

Quote :

"babylon is one of the fucking cradles of civilization and if you think they are not capable of maintaining a democracy than I don't know why I'm even discussing this with you"

huh...

so athens greece after having the classical democracy was conquered by the roman empire and by the middle ages was ruled by the emperor in Constantinople whats your point??

meanwhile while telling those iraqis to play nice and create democracy they are too busy squabbling about whose form of islam is better and blowing each other up.

yes its possible the avg iraqi may very well be better off in 20 years when "democracy" is in full swing with all the current problems ironed out. Try telling the guy who got blown up by the suicide bomber or the 10 yr old that had his leg blown off during the US invasion that they are "better off"

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:34 PM. Reason : a]

2/15/2008 1:31:33 PM

what is YOUR point?

Quote :

"meanwhile while telling those iraqis to play nice and create democracy they are too busy squabbling about whose form of islam is better and blowing each other up."

ahh yes, THOSE FUCKING SAVAGES

...

whatever

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:33 PM. Reason : .]

2/15/2008 1:32:47 PM

the term democracy is spread around too loosely. I would not define politics on our national level as a democracy. More like an Aristocratic Constitutional Republic

2/15/2008 1:35:53 PM

Quote :

"you're talking uninsightful political science 101 jibberish"

2/15/2008 1:36:13 PM

ok yes, democracy is the best form of government.

Please enlighten me with what countries have a government that fits our fantasy concept of the corrupt free democracy that we learn about in 5th grade ELP

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:38 PM. Reason : a]

2/15/2008 1:38:02 PM

Quote :

"More like an Aristocratic Constitutional Republic"

Please define.

2/15/2008 1:38:05 PM

Because you think so doesn't mean everyone agrees with you.

Clearly Russian's don't or Putin wouldn't be so amazingly popular.

Clearly Venezuelan's don't, or Chavez's bid for Emperor status would have been resoundingly defeated instead of marginally so.

Or the Chinese middle class who are content with incremental and paced changes and stability in exchange for freedom of speech and censorship.

Or muslim nations that demand Sharia law and a combination of God and the state.

The list goes on.

Your belief that democracy is the best option for everyone is not only arrogant, but rather ignorant as well and ignores critical cultural differences that highlight different personal priorities.

2/15/2008 1:42:08 PM

now i didn't say it's what people will choose

it is what is inherently best for them though

and yeah, that is arrogant, but I'm really just parroting a belief of Winston Churchill

“We accept in the fullest sense of the word the settled and persistent will of the people. All this idea of a group of supermen and super-planners, such as we see before us, “playing the angel,” as the French call it, and making the masses of the people do what they think is good for them, without any check or correction, is a violation of democracy. Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time; but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, continuously rule, and that public opinion, expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters."

and honestly, that's good enough for me

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 1:48 PM. Reason : edit more in a sec]

2/15/2008 1:44:15 PM

Quote :

"More like an Aristocratic Constitutional Republic"

Please define.

2/15/2008 1:53:30 PM

Quote :

"Clearly Russian's don't or Putin wouldn't be so amazingly popular."

It's a bit more complicated than that. Putin walks the line between democracy and dictatorship. Russians who favor democracy are actually more likely to support Putin than ones who favor strong leaders. See this report:

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/103/the-putin-popularity-score

Quote :

"Clearly Venezuelan's don't, or Chavez's bid for Emperor status would have been resoundingly defeated instead of marginally so."

As before, there's nothing clear about this conclusion. The ability to seek reelection indefinitely is arguably more democratic than term limits. There's no reason whatsoever to believe most Venezuelans considered the vote a choice between democracy and dictatorship.

I don't necessarily disagree with your thesis, but your evidence is rather lacking.

2/15/2008 3:29:28 PM

You can't institute a one child policy in a democracy

2/15/2008 7:11:57 PM

Most people who lash out at Putin are just jealous of him and Russia.

2/15/2008 8:03:16 PM

I dunno how much hatin' Putin deserves for his limited view of Democracy.

Unitary Executive theory, anyone? Google it. That's standard operating procedure for our own head of state.

Some of you seem to have the misconception that we live in the purest form of Democracy in history or something...

2/15/2008 8:10:43 PM

Quote :

"You can't institute a one child policy in a democracy"

its not like china executes the 2nd kid. the parents are just fined. one is pretty shitty but honestly i do not think it would be a bad thing if there was a fine or some kind of tax penalty for parents here that have say more then 4 children (the number is negotiable.)

As it stands right now we PAY people to have more children. Most americans realize this through increased tax exemptions. With the lower classes they even get a fucking Raise; since they get bigger welfare checks the more children they have. So lazy Shequana has incentive to sit in the recliner getting fucking by 5 kids and the american gov't pays for her to do it.

Quote :

"Some of you seem to have the misconception that we live in the purest form of Democracy in history or something..."

no shit. a lot of times i end up in debate not questioning the validity of an executive branch decision but the candy coated delusion view that some have of us being this shining beacon of freedom and democracy when we are not. Truely the "freedom" in this country is the capability for anyone to play the "game"/"system" in order to excel and monetarily succeed in life. Once you have money and power your other "social" freedoms increase.

[Edited on February 15, 2008 at 9:06 PM. Reason : l]

2/15/2008 9:03:46 PM