Can I imagine Bush making a joke about rape if he thought he was not being recorded? Sure can.

As fh mentioned, I was refering to McCain.

It was McCain actually: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/McCain_unplugged_Bomb_bomb_bomb_bomb_0419.html

But it does seem to be true that, while Putin seems to position himself primarily for domestic audiences, Medvedev seems more outward-facing. Hard to know at this stage whether that’s of any importance.

Cite. When has Bush said he is going to bomb Iran? Good luck with that.

Even if he did, it is unlikely he adopted the sort of tone or language that I cited, that Putin routinely uses. It would be like Bush saying at a press conferences “We’re going to bomb those towel-heads back to the stone age.” Is discussion of military options to curtail Iran possibly developing nuclear weapons approaching the crudity of tone of making a joke about RAPE?!

My point was, Russian politicians are often rewarded by the Russian public for a crudity in tone and language that you might hear among truck drivers, rather than politicians. Medvedev has yet to use or adopt such language or tone in his speeches, appearances, and press conferences (at least any that I have read).

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran?

Fact is, Medvedev might be saying things which are “banal”, but he doesn’t seem likely to pop off at some reporter regarding Islamic terrorists: “If you want to completely become an Islamic radical and are ready to have a circumcision, then I invite you to Moscow. We have a multi-cultural country and have specialists even on this issue. And I will recommend him to perform this surgery in such a way so that nothing would grow out of you again.”

Or to make crude remarks about rape accusations, cynical remarks about being the only pure democrat, jokes about gay parades and “demographic problems” and outbursts like “мочить в сортире”.

Medvedev is a professional businessman/politician. Putin often behaves more like a truck-driver who found himself running the country. Most of the civilized world wouldn’t accept a political leader who speaks in such crude terms, but in Russia it marks him as a “real man”.

I wonder if Medvedev can sustain the good-boy image before he is going to need to say a few sharp-tongued, crude remarks of his own. In Russian politics, I think he’s going to be marked as a total p*ssy.

I assumed he was appointed because he would not say something new, strange or unusual…