Dana Rohrabacher talks about the time he arm-wrestled Vladimir Putin:
“We went out and we played touch football and Scooter Libby was one of the players and a bunch of my right-wing friends were there,” Rohrabacher said. “We all ended up going to the Irish Times pub afterwards. And we were having a little bit too much to drink I guess. But anyway we started arguing about who won the Cold War, etc, and so we decided to settle it like men do when they’ve had too much to drink in the pub.”
“So we got down to these arm-wrestling matches and I ended up being paired off with Putin!” he continued. “And he’s a little guy but boy I tell ya — he put me down in a millisecond. He is tough! He just – muscles were just unbelievable.”
Conclusion: we should pursue diplomacy with Russia. Because Daddy has big muscles.
Baud
I think he’s no longer talking about arm wrestling here.
Aimai
You really couldnt make this shit up.
Poopyman
I think another title might have been “Please Don’t Hurt Me, Mama”.
(“Poor Poor Pitiful Me”, for you Youngs.)
debbie
Am I the only one hearing Monty Python tuning up in the background?
JGabriel
Dana Rohrbacher:
Aww. It’s so sweet watching young love blossom.
Va Highlander
“Oh, Dana…and I thought you were so rugged!”
WereBear
I expect a KGB exercise video at any moment. Step 1: Beating Up Dissidents.
Anya
First of all, Scooter Libby? WTF is that dude doing here?
Second, everyone is always down on Texas and the South for cornering the market on crazy and stupid, but California poses a real competition with Duncan Hunter and Dana Rohrabacher.
Ash Can
Actually, in the linked piece (and in the piece it links to in turn, although I don’t have time to listen to the whole interview), Rorabacher says that Putin’s “toughness” is no reason we shouldn’t work with him, which is different from the conclusion you give here. Nevertheless, his bit about the arm wrestling is dumb, and more than slightly creepy, especially within the context of the popular criticisms of Obama as being weak, ineffective, etc.
Poopyman
Whatever happened to resolving things with a knife fight, like in the good old days?
MattF
…and then they all went out and had pedicures.
Anya
@Ash Can: Unlike Putin, POTUS doesn’t need to stage macho-man photoshoots. Dude has a serious complex.
Ash Can
@Anya:
This incident took place some years ago, when Putin was still just Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg. But it just adds even more unsavory context to the whole story.
Ecks
@MattF: Orange mocha frappuccino!
NonyNony
@debbie:
Apparently not, since mistermix gave this post a Python title.
(And thank you very much, mistermix. I will now have the goddamn lumberjack song going through my head for the rest of the goddamned day…)
mistermix
@Ash Can: I stand corrected. Rohrabacher did not actually say we should work with Putin because “Daddy has big muscles”. When will I ever learn to get details right?
Ash Can
@Anya: I saw some commenter recently speculate that Putin suffered from “little guy” complex, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that were the case. Rohrabacher himself says that Putin was small, and the recent videos of him standing next to Obama make him look like he’s standing in a hole next to the prez. Maybe that’s why all these gun-toters and manly-men worshipers love him so — they suffer from the same complex, and misery loves company.
Suffern ACE
…and to this day, Dana must publicly state that the Soviets won the Cold War. To do otherwise would be dishonorable.
Amir Khalid
“He puts on women’s clothing, and hangs around in bars.”
I’m pretty sure I didn’t need that mental image.
MomSense
@Anya:
What’s the over under on Putin being discovered in a “wide stance”?
Amir Khalid
@Ash Can:
Remember when Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets came out? A lot of people said they saw a striking resemblance between Dobby the house elf and Putin.
MomSense
@Ecks:
I love you for the zoolander reference!!
NonyNony
@Suffern ACE:
Naw. The Soviets lost the Cold War because Gorbachev was a bleeding heart liberal who didn’t have the stomach to do what it took and instead caved into the ultimate manliness of Ronald Reagan. If a strong man like Putin had been in charge instead of a weak-kneed bleeding heart like Gorbachev, history would have been totally different. In a battle between Putin and Reagan clearly Reagan would have out-manlied Putin eventually, but at least Putin would have put up a fight.
SRW1
Ah, the adolescent rituals of male bonding. I wonder what the equivalent would look like in a world dominated by female politicians.
Ash Can
@Amir Khalid: LOL!
dmsilev
@Anya:
Research for his next novel?
techno
When Putin goes to Germany, he holds press conferences in German. Ok, wise guys, when was the last time ANY USA president could hold a press conference in anything but his mother tongue? (Jefferson in French, maybe?) Tis harder than it looks.
Yes I know Putin bashing is pretty common but considering the mess he was handed him by that utterly corrupt drunk Yeltsin, he has done a pretty good job. He’s astonishingly bright and hard-working and as we saw last week, he’s a pretty damn good diplomat. So no, it doesn’t surprise me he is good at arm wrestling.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Wasn’t it just a few short months ago when Mitt Romney, republican candidate for President, was talking about Russia like the cold war was still going on? Then suddenly Putin is stand-offish with Obama and everyone in the conservative establishment has a man crush on him. But they’re not gay! Nosiree, they’re manly men, just like shirtless Putin.
Teresa
right wingers freak me out with their never ending man crushes.
Ben Cisco
“Earlier today, irony and satire were found dead in what officials are calling a murder-suicide…”
legion
Lindsey Graham approves of this policy.
AxelFoley
@techno:
Please tell me you’re joking. My snark detector has been off lately.
Citizen_X
Well Putin is a black belt in Judo, so I give him credit for that. (Not that that helps in arm wrestling, but he is going to be in shape.)
But that passage? Eww.
GregB
Fap, fap, fap….authoritarians…..fap, fap, fap…..
Emma
@techno: He’s also a former KGB murderer with delusions of tsarhood who has co-opted the most vicious form of anti-gay persecution from the corrupt aristocracy of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Mike in NC
And to think this gaping asshole is still collecting a fat government paycheck.
gogol's wife
@techno:
Give me a break. Of course he knows German, he was a KGB agent in Germany. You can’t spy without knowing the language.
SFAW
I think youse guys have shown remarkable restraint by not making jokes (in light of the “touch” football comment) about “tight ends” and “wide receivers.” Not that I have any idea what that all means, of course.
In related news, apparently there is a video of the test of strength Rohrabacher so glowingly recalls.
I guess as long as Rohrabacher doesn’t start calling him “Pootie Poot,” W won’t get all hurt and jealous an’ stuff.
Ash Can
@techno:
Because he totally would have sat on his buddy Assad all on his own, without any, ahem, prompting.
ruemara
Thanks for the early morning vomit.
SFAW
@techno:
Well, I’ve seen Obama give press conferences in one of Kenya’s national languages, does that count? I’ve also seen Claude Julien switch seamlessly between francais and anglais, when he has a press conference.
And Bush once tried to do one in Pig Latin, but he ouldn’t-cay ull-pay it-yay off-yay.
Cacti
@techno:
Which makes it totes okay to have people poisoned.
Roger Moore
@Poopyman:
FTFY.
NonyNony
@techno:
Wow. Seriously? Defending Vladamir Putin? I mean, I’ve seen people defend Stalin and Hitler and Mussolini and Putin is nowhere near that level, so I suppose it shouldn’t surprise. But he’s also nowhere in the league of those guys so I don’t see how he even gets admirers on the cruelty scale of worshiping a thug. He’s a tinpot demagogue who it politically savvy enough to keep himself at the front of public opinion without actually doing anything to lead political opinion the way he wants. He’s used his power mostly to enrich himself and his cronies not just at the expense of the Russian plutocrats that were Yeltsin’s cronies (so points to Putin for that) but ALSO at the expense of the Russian people (so demerits for Putin on that score). And he keeps himself in power through whipping up fear campaigns against whatever minority he sees that the public is currently hating at any particular moment.
He combines all of the worst elements of George HW Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W Bush into one mean little package. He really isn’t a politician to be admired – if he were born and raised in the USA instead of Soviet Russia he’d either be an opportunistic DLC Democrat or he’d be Eric Cantor, depending on where he was born.
MattF
@SFAW: a-Hay a-Hay.
SFAW
@Cacti:
As Rochus Misch would have told you.
SFAW
@NonyNony:
But at least he got the trains to run on time.
Roger Moore
@techno:
Well, George W Bush held press conferences in English, which all the evidence suggests is not his native language.
Cassidy
@Anya: @Ash Can: You’re both missing the mark. Historically, Russia has always shown a preference for a “strongman” being in charge. Whether or not Putin is actually a tough guy is immaterial. His whole public persona is based on a throwback notion to the old school tough guys of Russian history. It also helps that he is a high level martial artist in Judo and Sambo as well as competing in those sports. For some reason or other, it seems that Russians feel more secure having a perceived tough guy in charge.
rdldot
@Cassidy: Then no wonder that the Republicans love him. That’s their MO as well.
SFAW
@Roger Moore:
Well, that certainly beats my “Pig Latin” thing.
Well played!
Ash Can
@Cassidy: That’s fine and dandy for the Russian people, but I reserve the right to consider that a mite creepy. And, far more important IMO, I find Americans who feel that way — especially when they’re in government themselves — to be VERY, VERY creepy.
Poopyman
@Roger Moore: Well to be more precise, he was trying to speak Texan, which is definitely not that Yalie’s native language.
Cassidy
@Ash Can: You can think it’s creepy all you want; I’m not saying that’s right or wrong or anything really. I’m just saying that you’re attributing Putin’s behavior, persona, and photo ops to some sort of insecurity or “little man” complex and I’m saying it’s the exact opposite.
Lawrence
Vlad the Impaler was also the head of the KGB in Soviet Russia. I don’t think you get that job without being a very tough guy, and probably a casual murderer. But of course I haven’t “looked into his heart” like President codpiece flight suit, so what do I know. As for who won the Cold War, who cares? Or better: we all won because it didn’t happen.
Roger Moore
@Cassidy:
I think you’re discussing more or less orthogonal ideas. One of you is discussing his personal insecurities and the other his public persona. Putin started studying martial arts well before he became a public figure, and it’s entirely possible that he went as far as he did in part because of small man’s syndrome. When he went into politics, that same interest became an advantage because of Russians’ desire to have a tough guy in charge- and because his toughness and sobriety were such a contrast to Yeltsin. I’m sure that’s why he has so many publicity photos doing stereotypically manly activities like hunting and fishing, and why so many of them involve taking off his shirt to show off his muscles.
FWIW, I’ve read that the sobriety is pretty important. Putin is, or at least claims to be, a teetotaler, which is both unusual and admired. It’s an especially big contrast to Yeltsin, whose apparent public drunkenness was deeply embarrassing to Russians who felt it confirmed people’s worst stereotypes about them.
SRW1
@Lawrence:
‘Soul’, not heart. Bush The Lesser looked into Vlad’s eyes and saw his ‘soul’. Even W couldn’t have overlooked the shriveled black nothingness had he been probing for Putin’s heart.
burnspbesq
@SRW1:
Right, because women never do anything stupid or inane.
zizi2
@MomSense:
You ask:
That will be the moment GOP embraces LGBT folks. And Pres Obama would have completed the TOTAL transformation of Repubs
1) Warmongers to peaceniks
2) Anti-Communists to Putin pornsters
and now
3) Homophobes to Gay Pride drum majors.
How about that for “changing the world”? LOL!
Cassidy
@Roger Moore: Possible, but I think you guys are viewing a Russian through the lens of an American. Culturally, it’s not the same.
Roger Moore
@Cassidy:
I don’t think the idea of a physically small man trying to acquire power to make up for it is specifically American. There’s a reason it’s also known as a Napoleon Complex, you know.
Redshirt
Gosh, the Wingnuts fall ever deeper in love with Putin. I’m seeing a push for Putin/Palin 2016. Starbursts for all!
Cassidy
@Roger Moore: I think it’s an oversimplification.
SRW1
@burnspbesq:
Bravo, you’re catching up. Now what would they possibly do instead?
jayjaybear
The latent homoeroticism that keeps bubbling to the surface with these ultra-rightwing Repubs whenever they’re picking political figures to tongue-bathe is increasingly hilarious. And creepy. Simultaneously.
Tonybrown74
Unbelievable muscles? Aqua Velva? Shoulders you can land a 737 (sic) on? Navy Pilot in a flight suit?
Washington DC is either full of closet cases, or I am going to have to question my (gay) sexuality …
MomSense
@zizi2:
I think Putin should get the Nobel Peace Prize!
LanceThruster
Ummmmm…mussels! (arrrrrghhhhh).
Lancelot Link
If I recall correctly, Rohrabacher was equally impressed with a man named Osama Bin Laden.