Bush: "I looked the man in the eye... I was able to get a sense of his soul"

In an election so managed and manipulated that key opposition parties were tossed off the ballot and critics of Putin were jailed, the Russian president has completely consolidating power in himself. The United Russia Party ticket he headed has claimed total control of the national government in voting that opposition campaigner and former world chess champ Garry Kasparov dismisses as "the dirtiest" in Russian history.

"There can be no doubt that, measured by our standards, these were not free and fair elections, they were not democratic elections," says German government spokesman Thomas Steg. "Russia was no democracy and it is no democracy."

And what of Venezuela?

In voting that saw a massive turnout but few serious complaints about irregularities, voters in the South American country rejected Chavez's request for constitutional changes that would have increased his authority and allowed him to serve as president for so long as he continued to win elections. In effect, the voters chose to maintain term limits on a popular leader who was seen as having overreached.

Accepting the results, Chavez held up a copy of the constitution he had attempted to alter and declared, "We will continue constructing socialism but under this constitution."

Thus, in the country where Bush worked with Putin to advance some kind of democracy, there is no democracy.

And in the country where Bush did everything he could to undermine the elected and popular leader, democracy appears to have prevailed.

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Q A question to both of you, if I may. President Putin, President Bush has said that he's going to go forward with his missile defense plans basically with or without your blessing. Are you unyielding in your opposition to his missile defense plan? Is there anything you can do to stop it?

And to President Bush. Did President Putin ease your concern at all about the spread of nuclear technologies by Russia, and is this a man that Americans can trust?

<...>

PRESIDENT BUSH: I will answer the question. I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country. And I appreciated so very much the frank dialogue.