Putin and the American Conservatives.

This thread is for RR, who took me to task for my opinion that there are conservatives in this country that admire Putin. Now you all can quibble about the definition of "admire" and I'm willing to concede that point, but as these and dozens of other articles/quotes/opinions show, my posts on the subject were not just something I made up but based on information I pick up reading a variety of news sources.

a broader trend among U.S. conservatives that found some unlikely people sympathizing more with Russia's president than their own — just this summer, for example, Matt Drudge branded him the "leader of the free world."

In many ways, Putin really looks a lot like a U.S.-style conservative. On the social side, he supports organized religion (in particular the Orthodox Church) and doesn't support Russia's LGBT community, while fiscally he seeks a balanced budget and low taxes. He is hard on terrorism but also steadfast in his opposition to military intervention in Syria, which places him far more in the Republican camp than the Democratic camp.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/is-vladi ... z2uvcnr41L

Vladimir Putin, Conservative Icon
The Russian president is positioning himself as the world's leading defender of traditional values.

While his stance as a defender of traditional values has drawn the mockery of Western media and cultural elites, Putin is not wrong in saying that he can speak for much of mankind," conservative American commentator Patrick Buchanan wrote. "Putin may be seeing the future with more clarity than Americans still caught in a Cold War paradigm."

http://www.theatlantic.com/internationa ... on/282572/

Spokesmen for several right-wing groups including the American Family Association have praised the Russian law, which prohibits any pro-gay speech or expression that could be accessible to minors. Veteran columnist Pat Buchanan has joined the Putin cheerleading squad. And, shockingly, the usually thoughtful author Rod Dreher, who blogs for The American Conservative, has added his own “1.5 Cheers for Putin.”

http://reason.com/archives/2013/08/22/v ... -the-right

In defense of American conservatives, they seem to be more worried about Putin than liberals who disregarded warnings about Putin invading the Crimea and Ukraine. So they might respect Vlad, but they also fear him.

So other than some anecdotal opinions, is there some overall conclusion that you'd like to share with us about how conservatives, or most conservatives think? No offense, I'm just trying to understand the point you are trying to make.

Good point Rick. Too often the Left tries to pigeonhole conservatives. Technically Rand Paul and John McCain are both in the same party but I almost never see them with the same opinions about getting involved overseas.

If only 25% of conservatives agree with Putin's domestic policy, does that count as all conservatives? Pat Buchannon is quoted above, but if you actually look at his record, he is hard right on some issues and left wing on others. For example, he would repeal NAFTA if he had won. Sounds more like a union manufacturing head than a Republican.

The point was simply to respond to the reverand who asked me to show where any conservative had ever admired Putin. I don't usually respond to posts like that, but the first article showed up when I was reading up on some of Putin's recent actions, a simple search showed dozens more, I know it won't convince RR, but he all but accused me of fabricating my opinion out of nothing.

Fred, no claim was ever made about all conservatives. RR wanted to know of any conservatives that admired the man, now you move the goal posts to all conservatives..... Trying to have a discussion with y'all is like trying to nail jello to a tree.

And Archer, I concede to you that Buchanan and Dreher are extreme idiots and these are not two people I look up to in any way as my examples for conservatism.

But lets deal with the articles you linked to.

Other than Buchanan and Dreher, all three articles were building on those two nut cases, with a statements made without sources ("Spokesmen for several right-wing groups including the American Family Association have praised the Russian law") what "several" right-wing groups? They only listed ONE, the American Family Association.

The article mentioned ""Putin: World Conservatism's New Leader." was produced by the Center for Strategic Communications, an influential Kremlin-connected think tank, not a conservative group.

All three articles mention Buchanan and Dreher and then go on to discuss Russian styled conservatism, from Russian think tanks, Russian based material, Russia Today and a multitude of other sources analyzing Putin's Russia and world view.

You found one Pat Buchanan who spoke admirably about Putin's social values and one other conservative, Dreher, who was more nuance about his opinion ("nuanced" was the words of the article, not mine).

You found two and a slew of articles that are based on the same story. You said "A whole lotta Putin worship going on here, the conservatives have found their messiah" yet the material in those articles doesn't seem to paint with as broad brush as and those article do not prove your "messiah" statement in any way.

You fall into the same trap as Lady Jazzer. Making bigoted statements about conservatives, lumping them into one basket and then painting that basket with your broad brush. "the conservatives" certainly sounds like you're saying "all of them."

You can do better than that.

archer wrote: Fred, no claim was ever made about all conservatives. RR wanted to know of any conservatives that admired the man, now you move the goal posts to all conservatives..... Trying to have a discussion with y'all is like trying to nail jello to a tree.

Yes you did. See my comment above.

Sidebar: Obama is declaring "Putin is on the wrong side of history" for what he is doing in the Ukraine.
Think Vlad will withdraw once he hears this?

Anyone else see the irony of Obama saying this after we just are finishing up an occupation of Afghanistan that went on for over a decade just because the Taliban was linked to Saudis that flew planes into our buildings?
Considering Sevastapol is a legal Russian naval base and thousands of Russians live in Crimea, it seems like Putin has more justifiable reasons to invade than the US did in 2001.

FredHayek wrote: Considering Sevastapol is a legal Russian naval base and thousands of Russians live in Crimea, it seems like Putin has more justifiable reasons to invade than the US did in 2001.

Show me in treaties, agreements and/or international law HOW Putin has any justifiable reason to invade the Crimea? I suspect that by "justifiable" you mean "legal."

We have a large Russian population living in Brighton Beach NY. They are frequently ostracized and harassed for being both Russian and for part of that same population for being Russian Jews (double whammy on them).

You think Putin would be "justified" to put a ship off of the Coney Island shore and come in to "rescue" them.

I want you to "justify" Putin's actions. I'll wait.