Respect, if not love, for Putin.

I try to love my enemies. Because that’s supposed to be the moral and kindly thing to do. From a spiritual perspective. Anyway, my worst enemies happen to be politicians. They lie. They cheat. They sin. The worst of the worst, of course, are lunatic fringe Republicans. Hard as I try, can’t bring myself to truly love any of ‘em. But I’m making progress. In that I’m beginning to like at least one foreign (Russian) politician. Namely, Vladimer Putin. Can’t help but revere his classy style. Knows how to effectively taunt American politicos. Especially lunatic fringe Republicans. Gets them to rattle their sabers. To threaten renewal of the Cold War. Putin gets them to make absolute fools of themselves on the political stage. Makes Putin look like a genius.  Putin comes across as the smart guy in the room. The cool guy. With the upper hand. I tend to love that. Makes for astoundingly good entertainment. Gives me an ever-growing respect. For Vladimer Putin. Indeed, a master of his (political)  craft. I love it. If not Putin himself. –Jim Broede