Джордж Буш катался на велосипеде, Обама играет в гольф, но они оба - сынки по сравнению с Vladimir Putin! Ближе к концу видео можно начинать неприлично ржать.
MADDOW: the George W. Bush administration was much better at than the Obama administration is the art of the fake candid photo of the president doing something vaguely manly. Our nation's current president is a tall, very fit, athletic guy who plays basketball very well and he comes across in person as sort of a tough guy. But from all the rainbow shaved ice and ankle socks pictures that we've seen of him, you would never know these things about him. The George W. Bush White House, on the other hand, had comparatively little to work with. President Bush was certainly fit but his sport of choice was bicycle riding and he was prone to fall off his bike. He did have what they called a ranch, but the president was quite famously afraid of horses and can't be near them. Still though, the George W. Bush White House found ways to get out photos of the bicycling-accident-prone, horse-phobic president in ways that made him look like John Wayne. But even the mucho macho manliness spin doctors of the George W. Bush White House must concede that when it comes to looking tough in photos, there is one world leader who puts all Americans to shame. And now, that world leader has topped even himself. We asked our own staff He-Man to look into the story and that, of course, is Kent Jones. Hi, He- Man.
KENT JONES, MSNBC CORRESPONDENT: He-Man, wow. Vladimir Putin has chosen a nautical setting for the latest action movie that is constantly playing inside his brain. Take a look.
( voice-over): Creepy horseback guy. Creepy judo guy. Creepy wing man for Jean Claude Van Damme guy. Creepy armpit stains guy. Creepy swimming guy. Creepy swimming with dolphins guy. Creepy pseudo-biker guy. And now, from the man who gave us creepy polar bear tranquilizing guy and creepy Siberian tiger tranquilizing guy, here is Russian strongman Vladimir Putin as creepy whale-shooting guy. Flanked by scientists, Putin fired darts from a cross bow to collect skin samples from a gray whale swimming hear the Kamchatka Peninsula. It was for his own good and by his, I mean Vladimir Putin's. Putin admitted it took four shots to hit the whale which might be embarrassing if embarrassment were a concept remotely familiar to him. Back on shore, journalists asked Putin whether it was dangerous. He told them, quote, "To live, in general, is dangerous," said the guy with the cross bow. Meanwhile spokesman for the whale said, quote, " Vladimir Putin's virile masculinity is equally impressive on land and sea. It is an honor to sacrifice my pitiful skin samples to such a magnificent creature. Truly the food chain ends with him." Like the man said, to live, in general, is dangerous.
MADDOW: Thank you very much, Kent.