Where's Your Messiah Now, GOP?

Steve Benen noted today that Vladimir Putin -- a hero to the Republican Party -- is experiencing some tough times:

It was poised to be the biggest arms deal ever between a NATO country and Russia. France had a deal worth more than 1 billion euros to deliver a warship to Russia, and given Europe’s economy and the number of jobs involved, French President Francois Hollande really wanted the deal to go forward.

But it did not. President Obama urged Hollande to leave Vladimir Putin isolated and the French president agreed, announcing last week that the warship delivery was off “until further notice” in light of Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine.

As Benen notes, Putin has suffered a series of setbacks recently, including the scrapping of Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline and the recent snubbing Putin was forced to endure at the G20 meeting in Brisbane.  The Russian economy is currently reeling from economic sanctions, and falling oil prices will no doubt add to Putin's downward spiral.

The problem for Republicans is that they love Putin.  As noted last March in the LA Times:

The GOP chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers of Michigan, said Putin is playing chess while Obama is playing marbles.

Other conservatives have taken this critique a step or two further. On Fox News, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani declared that Putin has shown what leadership is by acting boldly and rapidly to assert his nation’s interests in Crimea. Also on Fox, right-wing celebrity Sarah Palin suggested that the Russian president is far manlier than the U.S. president.

“Obama, the perception of him and his ‘potency’ across the world is one of such weakness,” Palin said. “Look it, people are looking at Putin as one who wrestles bears and drills for oil. They look at our president as one who wears mom jeans and equivocates and bloviates.”

In recent days, Rush Limbaugh has surprised himself (so he says) by finding admirable qualities in Putin that Obama lacks. He joins the ranks of numerous social conservatives, such as Pat Buchanan, who were already Putin fans due to his support for the Russian Orthodox Church and his opposition to gay rights.

Other Republicans who have expressed their love for Putin -- while at the same time displaying their intense hatred for America's first Black president -- include Matt Drudge, Lindsey Graham, and Steven Seagal.

Well, it turns out you backed the wrong horse, assholes, and your hatred for America -- and your love affair with a foreign dictator -- have come back to bite you.  Steve Benen summed it up best:  "I’ll be eager to hear all the apologies from GOP politicians who spent the year heralding Putin as the strategic mastermind the United States needs in the White House."

UPDATE:  Ed Kilgore has more on Putin and his troubles.