DISQUS

Jophus · 4 months ago

I don't get how this man can make the world like us more and at the same time, make us like us less. It's a fucking paradox.

offspring · 4 months ago

i have given up on him so cant really comment on him, just doing my best to stop funding of the dems until we have the same rights as the rednecks down the street from me

Gridlock · 4 months ago

Sure, take a hard line with people on the other side of the planet but not the hypocrites across the aisle.

*eyeroll*

whatevers..

Indigo · 4 months ago

We like Gorbachev.

Dateline_Molly · 4 months ago

I liked Lenin. :)

The rising empire is the axis of China/Russia/Iran. Germany and France will align with these guys as well. Russia recently hosted an economic summit that included China, and the U.S. asked to be invited and we were turned down. :)

U.S. is in decline and Russia is on the rise. It's a fight for resources. The U.S. will lose. So U.S. has to show "aggressiveness" towards Putin.

I'm no Putin fan, but Obama is no match intellectually for Putin.

Jophus · 4 months ago

What an interesting comment. I'm ignorant on pretty much all things Russia. Care to enlighten me on how they are rising? My basic understanding was that their economy was tied to price of oil and natural gas, leading to an unpleasant situation. Are they trying to establish a new reserve currency as well and that is why we were not invited?

Paul · 4 months ago

Russia has an "opposition" newspaper? That's one more than America has.

Jack · 4 months ago

C.J.
Well, I'm gonna change all that. I'd like you to meet with a Russian reporter
named
Ludmila Koss, she's the Washington correspondent for the Novaya Gazeta,
she wants
credentials and a seat on the press charter.

TOBY
Why is she asking us?

C.J.
The Russians banned her from the summit.

TOBY
Why?

C.J.
She supported the other guy.

TOBY
Aha. Time to teach these Stoli-drinking Tchaikovskys a thing or two about
free press
American style! You don't ban those who supported you opponent, you make
them wallow
in their losedom by covering your victory. You sit them in the front row. You
give
them a hat! I will save Ludmila Koss, for I am Toby, and in doing so... Why
am I going
on like this?

C.J.
[smiles] I don't know.

------

TOBY
Toby Ziegler. Come on in.

Toby and Koss both walk in TOBY'S OFFICE.

TOBY
You write for the Novaya Gazeta.

KOSS
[sits down on the couch] Yes.

TOBY
Your circulation's gotten huge.

KOSS
[laughs] Highest daily in Rissia.

TOBY
And it's hard to tell whether that's because of your reporting, your
editorials, or the
naked women on page three.

KOSS
[chuckles] We did not invent this thing, nor did we invent the comic strips
or lotto.

TOBY
Touche, madam. [sits] So what did you do to piss off President Chigorin?

KOSS
President Chigorin does not like criticizm.

TOBY
Have you met someone who does?

KOSS
That is not the point.

TOBY
No, I... I'm just talking. [They laugh.] Listen, you're already credentialed
to cover
our President, it's just a matter of putting you on a plane and, before I
do that,
I want to check with the State department to make sure it's not a grotesquely
insulting
thing to do to a new President from whom the US is hoping for quite a bit.

KOSS
Oh, so your first amendment only extends as far as it's polite?

TOBY
No, it extends farther then that but it only protects us. Believe me, if we
were able to
inforce US law around the world, I'd retire and go scuba-diving.

KOSS
You like diving?

TOBY
I've never done it. I've... never done anything, but I've seen pictures and
it looks fun.
I've seen pictures of people out there in the world, and they all look like
they're glad
they are. Now, granted, when I'm looking at these pictures, somebody's
usually trying to
sell me something, but tell you what: I'm 44 years old and I'm buying. I
usually don't
talk this much, but I'm having an odd day. Want to stay for a little and
look at pictures
of scuba-diving?

KOSS
No, thank you.

TOBY
[stands up] Okay, then. We'll talk tomorrow.

KOSS
Thank you very much. [leaves]

-------

KOSS
Hello.

TOBY
Hello.

Toby points to the couch and picks up papers from his desk.

TOBY
Here are your credentials for the plane, here's your plane ticket, here are
your
credentials for the Palace, the Saturday press conference, the Arctic Peoples
exhibit,
the Sunday press conference, and the Hall of Flags.

KOSS
Thank you very much.

TOBY
Either way, I found out why Chigorin and his people have such a problem with
you.

KOSS
It's because I don't flatter them.

TOBY
No, it's because you stink.

KOSS
I beg your pardon?

TOBY
You can beg all you want, you're not gonna get it. Last month, you alleged
that the
Chigorin government bombed several apartment buildings based on an unattributed
source.
It was refuted; you never retracted!

KOSS
The government's case was all over the television!

TOBY
[holds up a printout] Last week, you had a cover story about President
Chigorin's
mother-in-law moving closer to the Kremlin. You printed her home address,
she had to relocate.

KOSS
[stands up] Well, that's her decision.

TOBY
You reported the failing grades of the Defense Minister's twelve-year-old
son! Does that
even count as journalism? Does that do anything but bring ridicule on a
defenseless kid?
We've got people like you here, on cable and on the Internet, and there's
no one anywhere
on the ideological spectrum that doesn't roll their eyes when their names
are spoken out
loud. You know, we've always had free press here, we take it for granted... how
can you
[crumples the paper] treat it like this?! You should give up your space and
put another
naked woman in there! [beat] Anyway. Here are your credentials.

Toby throws them on the desk. Koss picks them up and leaves.