Quote:

The Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, fired darts from a crossbow at a gray whale off Russia's far eastern coast today in the latest man-versus-nature stunts designed to cultivate his public image as a "macho leader". Putin held his balance in a rubber boat in choppy waters off the Kamchatka Peninsula, and eventually hit the whale with a special arrow designed to collect skin samples. "I hit it at the fourth try!" a beaming Putin, kitted out in black-and-orange waterproof suit and black hat, yelled to a camera crew from the boat. A biologist with him displayed the skin sample and said it would allow experts to determine where the whale came from. When the boat skidded onto the beach, Putin hopped off and made a beeline for waiting reporters. Clearly in his element, Putin replied jovially to a question as to whether the endeavour was dangerous. "Living in general is dangerous," he quipped. Asked why he got involved, he replied, "Because I like it. I love the nature." But nature may be under threat by a seismic survey being conducted nearby by Russia's top oil company, Rosneft. The International Fund for Animal Welfare released a statement today condemning the two-month, pre-drilling survey as potentially damaging to the gray whales. In the course of exploration, oil companies use seismic air guns and other sources to produce pulses of acoustic energy through the water. Putin, meanwhile, during his eight years as president and the past two as prime minister, has learned to use television to try to cultivate the image of a rugged leader beloved by the Russian people. His grasp of the medium has been on full display in recent weeks as he has taken command of efforts to extinguish the wildfires that swept across much of western Russia and to help the thousands of people who lost their homes. The message has been that it is Putin, rather than his junior co-leader President Dmitry Medvedev, who is equipped to look after Russia, its people and environment. Putin has been canny about his plans to run in the 2012 presidential election, but has excluded running against Medvedev, saying the two will come to an agreement. Whatever the decision, his action-man lifestyle shows he is not about to recede from public view. He has been photographed fishing bare-chested in Russia's Altai region, and was shown on television diving into an icy river and swimming the butterfly stroke. In April he attached a satellite-tracking collar on a tranquilised polar bear. He also has shot a Siberian tiger with a tranquiliser gun and released leopards into a wildlife sanctuary.

Vladimir Putin finally gets his whale in macho stunt | World news | The Guardian

I like to see politicians enjoying themselves. So much of government has become an entirely joyless business these days that it makes a nice change to see anyone who's actually got a personality in charge of anything. Chirac was very good at it too - not going off to the ends of the earth to kill stuff - just making it all look effortless.

You need to have the moves to pull it off and the right type of popular support and image, I suppose. If someone like Obama or Sarkozy tried it they'd just be accused of slacking off. I guess in that it's also a good sign - you've got someone in charge who knows what he's doing. Having a personality is such a risky strategy in public life, I guess if anyone can pull it off it's a sign that he must be pretty good.

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.

While nothing can top The Putin, I offer the Brawny Man, in the rugged wilderness, collecting a small mountain of moose antlers.

YouTube- It's Election Season and Murkowski Sheds Her Views - Long Version

This guy on the other hand....

YouTube- Coffee with the Candidates: Chris Young
and followed it up with this

YouTube- Christopher Young the Singing Candidate Proposes

Originally Posted by Zichao

You need to have the moves to pull it off and the right type of popular support and image, I suppose. If someone like Obama or Sarkozy tried it they'd just be accused of slacking off.

I am not so sure. The problem with Sarko is that he likes bling-bling. And we know who's footing the bill. That's OK when the economy is good and stuff but it really grates when nearly everyone fear for their future...

But you do see Sarko running and biking and stuff. It's less extreme than going to shoot whales (although that looks pretty safe, to be honest. Man vs. nature it ain't) but it's him 'enjoying' himself.

Not sure about Chirac. The guy had moves, I guess (although I never actually liked him) but I don't remember anything in particular that would strike me as "man, this guy is so cool and in charge"...

__________________
Unless otherwise specified, I am posting as a regular poster. When I will act as a mod, I'll make sure you're in no doubt.

You'd never see Boris Johnson shoot a tiger either, but he pulls it off too.

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.

Dunno about that either. He probably got the insensivity required but, to me, Boris Johnson is just a buffoon. He might have a super sharp intellect but his physical appearance and speech skills just yell "buffoon" too loud for me to hear anything else...

Compare with Clarkson...



His persona is similar to BJ's in the sense of "insensitive englishman who still thinks The Empire was the best thing after sliced bread" but he totally could pull off shooting endangered species' animals. Heck, he'd be so self satisfied about it people would like him even more...

__________________
Unless otherwise specified, I am posting as a regular poster. When I will act as a mod, I'll make sure you're in no doubt.

Yeah, it's kind of hard to describe what I mean. I'm not just talking about shooting stuff, I mean arriving at a state where people think that you're good enough at other stuff for it just to be okay to mess around or play the idiot or whatever.

I mean, Chirac had this whole "hey, I'm just an ordinary guy, isn't this a lark?" thing going on, but if you put all of that to one side he was a pretty fucking scary political operator. Bojo looks like he doesn't have a clue what he's doing most of the time, but you don't get to be the Xth most powerful person in the ruling party by being a clueless idiot. With Putin it's slightly different, as being scary is part of the persona, but it's the same basic thing - "I'm this good and I'm not even trying yet".

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.

Originally Posted by Zichao

I mean, Chirac had this whole "hey, I'm just an ordinary guy, isn't this a lark?" thing going on...

... which I personally found extremely irrating given that he was living the high life at our expense - His presidential expenditure blew up by something astronomical.

Given that his predecessor, Miterrand, wasn't one to look at the bill when it came to the glorification of the presidential office, I thought that was pretty fucked up.

Quote:

... but if you put all of that to one side he was a pretty fucking scary political operator.

Bof. He managed to dissolve the assembly and hand over 5 years of his presidency to his political opponents. Arguably, not governing got him re-elected but still...

Quote:

Bojo looks like he doesn't have a clue what he's doing most of the time, but you don't get to be the Xth most powerful person in the ruling party by being a clueless idiot.

Dunno. Wasn't he born into the job? And since politics is purely a celebrity game these days, being the likeable buffon isn't such a bad role to be elected and re-elected to jobs people don't perceive as crucially important. I am not sure they would want Bojo as Chancellor or PM...

Quote:

With Putin it's slightly different, as being scary is part of the persona, but it's the same basic thing - "I'm this good and I'm not even trying yet".

I guess I am just cynical. Given that most of them are that bad in their real job, I have problems liking their personas. While I do like Clarkson because he is actually good as a TV presenter and un-PC "author".

__________________
Unless otherwise specified, I am posting as a regular poster. When I will act as a mod, I'll make sure you're in no doubt.

Quote:

which I personally found extremely irrating given that he was living the high life at our expense - His presidential expenditure blew up by something astronomical. Given that his predecessor, Miterrand, wasn't one to look at the bill when it came to the glorification of the presidential office, I thought that was pretty fucked up.

Well okay fair enough, but I still think that he got away with it way more than anyone else would have. Look at thi Bettencourt affair - no one would even have noticed something like that in the Chirac day, it would just have been "meh, add it to the pile".

Quote:

Bof. He managed to dissolve the assembly and hand over 5 years of his presidency to his political opponents. Arguably, not governing got him re-elected but still...

Well no one's perfect. His campaign againt VGE BITD was textbook material.

Quote:

I guess I am just cynical. Given that most of them are that bad in their real job, I have problems liking their personas. While I do like Clarkson because he is actually good as a TV presenter and un-PC "author".

*shrugs* How would you define "good"?

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.

Originally Posted by Zichao

Well okay fair enough, but I still think that he got away with it way more than anyone else would have. Look at this Bettencourt affair - no one would even have noticed something like that in the Chirac day, it would just have been "meh, add it to the pile".

Oh, I agree. As far as crook goes, he seemed to have a suave charm and a touch-of-the-common-people thing going that made him nearly immune. I recognise that. It's just that I don't really feel it myself - His crookery annoys me too much. I am no saint. I don't mind paying politicians well. As Sun Tzu pointed out, no matter how much gold you stuff in the mouth of your spies, they still cost you less than even a smallish army... Same with politicians - They manage to add 1% to GDP and they can collect a few millions for their personal account, I won't complain.

Quote:

Well no one's perfect. His campaign againt VGE BITD was textbook material.

Would you have a link? That was before my time.

Quote:

*shrugs* How would you define "good"?

What are politicians doing about:

- Growth
- Unemployment
- Public spending
- Security
- Personal Freedoms
- Sustainability

... and the few other stuff we can debate a bit (such as inequality. "The People" should decide on what they want and the politicians should deliver).

If they can show a statistically meaningful influence, I think they should get vastly rewarded. So Putin, for example, should be judged for his performance ex-Oil prices boom. I am not sure it'd be so remarkable then...

Just as with CEOs. Don't just show me growing profits - That's too easy in boom times. Show me that you are beating the competition, in good and bad times. Then, you should get well compensated.

__________________
Unless otherwise specified, I am posting as a regular poster. When I will act as a mod, I'll make sure you're in no doubt.