Obama speechwriter: "the growing # of GOP obsessed with Putin - a truly bizarre trend" (in 2014!)

[Amaryllis]

From Obama speechwriter David Litt’s book, “Thanks, Obama- My Hopey, Changey White House Years: A Speechwriter’s Memoir" (Really good book, by the way.)

Litt discusses preparation for the 2014 WH Correspondents’ Dinner and says:
“We also took a shot at the growing number of Republicans obsessed with Vladimir Putin. This was a truly bizarre trend. Prominent conservatives had recently begun heaping praise upon the Russian autocrat…”

Does this raise questions for anyone else? Sure did for me, given everything that has transpired since then. We already know that GOP/ Russia ties go long, deep and broad. A preview of things to come, as early as 2014? And saying “had RECENTLY begun heaping praise” to the point where Obama felt it was noteworthy enough to do a segment on it at the WH Correspondents’ Dinner? (See clip below) What happened at that time to cause GOP to start heaping praise on Putin? This was two and a half years before the 2016 election.

See Obama’s remarks at the 2014 WH Correspondents’ Dinner on Putin being “the new conservative darling” at 18:50 minutes:

While what he has to say was funny, it’s maybe not so funny now given all we know today. Another one of those too true to be truly funny things. ( Hannity, Rudy, and Mitt at a slumber party giggling over a poster of a bare-chested Putin.)

[FirstLight]

1. wow...

I missed this at the time, probably because it wasn't like we knew Russia would be so up in our biznizz...

truly noteworthy now.

I'd like to start a list of recent and current congress ppl (mostly R, maybe even some D) who have some link to Russia, or Russian business, or $$, or any interests, etc...

We'd probably need one of those crazy wall-diagrams with string and pins, the works!

[Amaryllis]

2. Wow is what I said too. Wondering if i should have picked a different subject heading..

I think this is really important. But I picked the heading that describes the content. Probably could get more hits by using Rudy, Sean and Mitt giggling over the Putin poster, but the point to me is how early their Putin fascination started and what triggered it. Sounds like there was a turning point there.

[empedocles]

3. 'Follow the money'

[Amaryllis]

4. Senator Wyden has been saying that ever since the election. He's senate intel, so sitll

GOP control, but I bet he is talking to Adam Schiff. He knows a lot and going thru house intel may be a way to get some of that out there. He's been also saying since the election that the American people deserve to know what happened and that they can make a lot of that info public without compromising sources and methods.

[Hassler]

5. Money and kompramat can make people do "strange" things.

[empedocles]

6. 'can' and have make some people do 'strange' things

[dalton99a]

7. R stands for Russia

[Poiuyt]

8. I grew up during the cold war and the Cuban Missile Crissis

It's really hard for me to wrap my head around this. It used to be the republicans who were hardnosed about Russia.