First, Russian President Vladimir Putin was caught on camera snuggling a young lad little too closely. Now, he’s getting a little too close for comfort with his own pet pooch. 

“As far as bad moods go, of course I have them like any other person, but in those cases I try to consult with my dog Koni,” he told reporters last week regarding questions about his leadership. ”She gives me good advice.”

Yes, the leader of the country with the most nuclear missiles pointed our way is really no different than Son of Sam. Plus, he named his dog Koni, which is obviously some codeword intended to signal that terrorists should unleash hell on America.

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My favorite TV columnist, Lisa de Moraes, on the unfortunate timing of President Bush’s press conference last night:

“The president of the United States scheduled his show during TV-Turnoff Week, the one week of the year when the well-meaning folks at the Washington-based TV-Turnoff Network ask people to turn off their sets and spend more time doing something else.

“We asked TV-Turnoff Network Executive Director Frank Vespe if the timing of the president’s show wasn’t unfortunate for his movement.

“‘It sort of is, particularly because he’s spoken many times, and the first lady, too, about the benefits of turning off the TV,’ he replied.”

de Moraes also offers some insight on why Judy Woodruff is really stepping down:

“Two sources familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified because of the confidentiality of contract talks, said CNN had offered Woodruff a role as a kind of ’super correspondent’ in Washington but planned to drop her as ‘Inside Politics’ anchor. The offer, which would have amounted to a demotion, confirmed Woodruff’s earlier decision to step down, the sources said.”

This probably means that Inside Politics will soon be cancelled. So, now that CNN has killed Crossfire, Connie Chung, Talkback Live and perhaps Inside Politics, has its ratings skyrocketed? Nope, but Paula Zahn and Anderson Cooper keep on tickin’. Why get rid of the old when its the new that smells bad?

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