Feeds22% of Russians say their opinion of Putin would improve if he ran for a third term
We all know that Putin is a stellar badass, though almost assuredly a war criminal and a godawful dictator. Yet, I find myself full of respect for the man. After all, Bush has done many similar things, and he's doing abysmally; water pressure in Mogadishu is stronger than his approval rating. Meanwhile, with Putin, 22% of the population say that their opinion of him would improve if he ran for a second term while 55% say that it wouldn't change at all. Do you realize what this means? More than a majority of the country supports Putin staying in power for an unconstitutional third term.
And yet he's stepping down.
I hate to make the comparison, it pains me to do so, but I can't help but thinking of George Washington, another leader whose country begged and begged him to stay in office longer than he said he was going to. Of course, one of the main differences is that Washington didn't want to have much to do with politics after he left, whereas Putin has made it explicit that he plans on staying in power (probably by becoming the Prime Minister, which is just... it's just fucking beautiful). Putin is simply transitioning his high domain from one office to another while getting bonus points for appearing to be a savior of democracy. Still, I wonder what history books will think of Putin in 50, 100 years.
People ask me, would I rather have Bush or Putin. That's not a choice I want to make any time soon. Bush has led us down so many wrong paths, and I can honestly respect Putin; however, I keep ending up thinking that Putin is doing more to subvert democracy than Bush is. After all, with the Democrats picking up pace every day, we're surging ahead of Bush-style thought and ideals. If only we can keep it up...
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Comments from site editors have a darker background than comments from everybody else.What a raging stallion of a man. His raw virility should serve as an example to us all.
Now what if we could cross-breed him with others? Does he have children?
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He in fact has two daughters.
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It's a standing rule among the Russian media that they can't really do anything with Putin's wife because she says really really stupid things.
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