Not really. It's more like each trying to be the top, but on the whole they come across as almost equally stupid. Almost, because it's impossible to beat Bush. Just listen to these comments by our dear leader:
"Strong countries are built by developing strong democracies," Bush said he told Putin. "I think Vladimir heard me loud and clear."
...
"This is the kind of fellow who, when he says `Yes,' he means yes, and when he says `No,' he means no," Bush said.
But Putin did almost as well in the stupidity competition:
"I'm not the minister of propaganda," Putin said, standing alongside Bush at a news conference.
And these guys are the leaders of the so-called free world? Give me a break.
Well, you can't give me a break. It just goes on and on. This bit is especially interesting:
Bush was challenged as well, by a Russian journalist who asked about "violations of the rights of journalists in the United States" without giving specifics.
Bush seemed irritated. He said he talked with Putin about Russian press freedom and that the Russian leader asked in turn about practices in the United States.
"People do get fired in American press," the president said, adding that they get fired by editors or producers or others -- not by government.
But while saying that a free press is the sign of a healthy society, Bush added, "Obviously there has got to be constraints. There's got to be truth."
And how do we get that truth, hmh? By paying money to journalists to be the government mouthpieces? By giving press passes to nonjournalists? I guess so.
It is interesting that Bush seemed irritated. He fares poorly under any kind of criticism and that is perhaps why he has walled himself into a little circle of yes-men and yes-women. Frightening, isn't it? Nothing is so important as good and open criticism on the highest levels of government but we might not be getting any of that.