I don't quite understand how blatant pro-putin propaganda has found such a wide audience outside of Russia, like we should all be so lucky to live in an impoverished kleptocracy.

Right wing Americans are impressed by his hollow showy machismo. It appeals to their desire for a return to the violent, invade counties ask questions later, swagger of the W years.

oh god, putin scored some goals in an exhibition match against a goalie that wasn't even trying.

this goes completely counter to our fact based cold-war brainwashing about how all foreign leaders we don't like must be physically and mentally inept and are only kept alive by the evil mana that flows through their veins.

SolRo, please stop JohnHolmesMotherfuckering Putin. I know you look at him like a "father", but it's creepy, so just stop.

Cena - I think the main reason is Putin's hardline moral stance, particularly in regards to his hatred of gays and rock bands. Putin is a man who stands up against everything that mainstream liberal Americans love, and is, in the words of Bryan Fischer, "a lion of Christianity". His unapologetic, swaggering manliness is a big part of it, too: Bush tried that approach, too, but HE usually came off not as a bad-ass, but as a fat child trying to play grown-up.

It can't be "a return" to the violence of the Dubya years, since we never actually left that; if anything, we've become even more violent under the current regime, the sole difference being that today, the five Democratic-Party-aligned media conglomerates which filter our popular discourse are giving our violence a pass. Now I guess it's possible, even likely, that your average TV-watching "conservative" Republican is just as dumb and misinformed as your average TV-watching "liberal" Democrat, and that the RWers really do buy into the hype that we've entered a grand new era of peace and tolerance. If that were the case, then I suppose working-class, hawkish Republicans might be forgiven for hating a warrior like Obama, who's invaded at least seven different countries, while idolizing a hippie like Putin, who's invaded two.

But rationally speaking, I think the main reason the right wingers love him is simply his macho attitude and his defense of traditional Russian values.

I don't know. Let's ask one. SolRo: why do you love Putin?

Granted, seeing Putin play a CANADIAN sport will probably not help his numbers with his adoring Republican fanbase. But at least it wasn't soccer.

Also, "vlad-meer"

Well, you know, the joke on Twitter is that various players for the opposing team had family members "disappear" but they were all miraculously found unharmed after Putin scored his double hat trick plus two.

At least, I think it's a joke.

That's how stupid your mindset is.

You cant comprehend that the players would take it easy on the aging president of a country rather that going balls out and try to embarrass him.

It's called courtesy and respect.


If you ended up playing Obama in a game of (sport of your choice) I doubt you'd things any differently.

I don't get why people create such fanfare and demand awesome physical attributes from our leaders. WW2 was won by a president who could barely stand up.

I'm a fatass, I don't think I could beat Obama at any sport, even if I gave it my 100%. :-/

"If you ended up playing Obama in a game of (sport of your choice) I doubt you'd things any differently."

If the goalie in your story decided to not cut Obama slack, people might call him an asshole but he probably wouldn't be mysteriously assassinated a day later.

True, SolRo, true! But there's still a bit of a difference between "going a bit easy on him" and "letting him score eight goals." The first is courtesy, the second a blatant propaganda exercise.

SolRo, do you not understand what a cult of personality is at all?

Why is everyone ASSUMING that Putin didn't score these goals legitimately? Like it's so hard to believe that Putin could score 8 goals, on his own, in a competitive hockey game; that just because he's winning, the other team MUST HAVE BEEN taking it easy on him. That's your Western media propaganda-conditioning talking!

You People are all BRAINWASHED SHEEP and you make me SICK.

It _is_ entirely possible that the goaltender at 0:19 just decided to spite his team instead of make any effort at all.

For that matter, it's not just that I'm a fatass, I never could skate and I also have always been the sort of person who runs away in terror when any sports-related projectile with more mass than a volleyball comes towards my head. I don't think I'd fare well against a dense rubber cylinder like a hockey puck coming at me at like 40 miles an hour.

Hooker, do you understand that this is bigger news in the western world than in Russia?

That should tell you something about your obsession/paranoia over Putin

SolRo, do you understand anything?

A lot more than you, apperently.

Haha. Well done

Because freedom

They both represent their respective cultures in microform.

My guess would be that while Evander didn't beat Mitt to death in the ring as a show of class, he also didn't get knocked the fuck out by a politician. Though don't forget that Russia is where Mikey Rourke won his "fight" by KO.

it was a high scoring game for both teams, putin didn't even score the majority of the goals of his team...again, it was an exhibition match.