Putin to Bush: We Don't Want Iraqi-Style Democracy

Even after over five years of being governed by possibly the dumbest president in U.S. history, it still stuns me that anyone could say something this stupid:

BUSH: I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world, like Iraq, where there's a free press and free religion. And I told him [Putin] that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia will do the same thing. I fully understand, however, that there will be a Russian-style democracy.

PUTIN: We certainly would not want to have same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, quite honestly.

BUSH: Just wait.

Red State huffs:

To Putin's jab, the proper reply is to point out--anew--that Russia has no kind of democracy at all.

Of course, neither does Iraq.

Red State goes on to opine that "It would have been nice if Think Progress had pointed out the irony of having Putin propound on democracy."

And it would be nice if someone would point out to Red State the irony of having Pres. Bush propound on democracy.

In truth, Putin did not say anything at all about democracy until George W. Bush, being the clueless individual that he is, set his own self up for mockery by advising Putin to become a democracy "like Iraq, where there's a free press and free religion."

Given the opening Bush provided, I'd say Putin's retort was pretty tactful. After all, he could have said, "I don't think you are in any position to lecture Russians about democracy. When you roll back your efforts to destroy democracy in your country, then you can come and tell Russia where to look for inspiration in creating our own democracy." Or, "When Iraq has the kind of free religion and free press where you don't get kidnapped, beheaded, tortured, or summarily executed because of your religion or because of your political associations or simply because you stepped out of your house, then maybe we might consider copying Iraq's free press and free religion."

POSTSCRIPT: After posting the above, I saw this comment by a Red State reader:

I love the fact that, if one looks at just the portion of the transcript posted, one could interpret Bush's reply, "Just wait," to mean something like this: "Just wait. Maybe someday Russia will have a democracy as open and free as they do in Iraq."

Looks like Bush is not the only one who has drunk the Kool-Aid.