Is this the soul W saw in Putin’s eyes?

We all heard the remarkably stupid story George W. Bush relayed about how he looked into Vladimir Putin’s eyes and "get a sense of his soul." After reading GQ's latest story, Putin: The Dark Rise to Power, you've got to wonder whether W said the flattering things he did because he believed them or because he was scared shitless.

In case you haven't heard, GQ has been slammed for not running this story in the Russian GQ. I agree that it's pretty spineless not to run it, but maybe they're a little worried about self-preservation.

As the piece documents, Putin's rise to power was directly tied to the bombings of 4 apartment buildings over a 12-day span 10 years ago that left over 300 people dead.

Blaming the bombings on terrorists from Chechnya, Russia's newly appointed prime
minister, Vladimir Putin, ordered a scorched-earth offensive into the breakaway
republic. On the success of that offensive, the previously unknown Putin became
a national hero and swiftly assumed complete control of the Russian state. It is
a control he continues to exert today.

The whispered truth in Russia? It was not Chechens...it was Putin. Or more accurately, the secret police who orchestrated the bombings in order to put one of their own in total control of the country. So why haven't the majority of Americans heard more about this?

Immediately after the bombings, a broad spectrum of Russian society publicly
cast doubt on the government's version of events. Those voices have now gone
silent one by one. In recent years, a number of journalists who investigated the
incidents have been murdered - or have died under suspicious circumstances - as
have two members of Parliament who sat on a commission of inquiry. In the
meantime, it seems that most everyone whose account of the attacks ran counter
to the government's version now either refuses to speak, has recanted his
earlier statements, or is dead.

Kind of puts GQ's decision in a little different light, no?

Read the GQ article. It shows just what kind of fella Putin is. And that brings me back to just how big an idiot our former President was. In her book, "When Character was King," Peggy Noonan documents how the whole looking into his eyes and sensing his soul manlove happened as Putin told Bush his "miracle cross" story.

U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin bonded
and looked into each other's souls -- over talk of a Christan cross that Putin
had blessed in the Holy Land.

"[Putin] basically seemed he was saying there was a higher power," Bush tells Nooonan of his meeting with the Russian leader last summer.

Bush tells Noonan that he said to Putin: "I think you judge a person on something other than politics. I think it's important for me and you to look for the depth of a
person's soul and character... I was touched by the fact your mother gave you a
cross."

Putin explained to Bush that he has taken to wearing the cross, which he
had blessed in Jerusalem. Putin said that one day he feared the cross was lost
in a house which burned down.

Bush tells Noonan in an Oval Office interview: "Putin said to me, 'The thing I was most worried about was I lost my cross that my mother had given me. And a worker came.' He wanted to tell the worker, 'Go find the cross -- I lost my cross.' The worker came over."

Putin gestured toward Bush as he acted out the story. The worker walked up to Putin and put out his hand and opened it up. "And the cross was there." Putin told Bush: "It was as if something meant for me to have the cross."

Bush shares with Noonan: "I said, 'Mr. Putin, President Putin, that's what it's all about -- that's THE story of the cross."

Noonan writes: "I thought later, after I had left the White House, that Bush, as a believer who feels he has been born again in Christ, would likely have interpreted what happened between them with great simplicity: God is here, is operating through us, wants good for the world, performs miracles."

Now...consider the GQ story about Putin. The guy is a former spy who was willing to ride the deaths of hundreds to gain power. I wonder how many laughs Putin and his FSB buddies had over vodkas as he relayed to them how easily he had manipulated our President? The comedy is only outweighed by the utter shame.