Christmas may be long past, but there's no shortage of fruitcakes
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/us/politics/kremlin-finds-a-defender-in-congress.html
Kremlin Finds a Defender in Congress
WASHINGTON — It is a lonely pursuit these days, defending Russia in Congress as outrage over Kremlin aggression grows louder. But Representative Dana Rohrabacher speaks up for Moscow with pride. He is, he says, a bit frosted with the Russian government in one respect. “I kind of wish I would get some sort of word back,” Mr. Rohrabacher, a California Republican, said Thursday shortly before the House voted 399 to 19 to offer aid to Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia. “But I haven’t even gotten so much as a thank you.”
The 13-term congressman has had a long, strange journey from fierce Cold Warrior to apologist for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. In 1966 when Ronald Reagan was running for governor of California, Mr. Rohrabacher camped out in the candidate’s backyard, pleading for an audience to prevent the disbanding of his Youth for Reagan group in favor of a rival’s. By last year, Mr. Rohrabacher was accompanying the action star Steven Seagal to Russia in search of a broader Islamist plot behind the Boston Marathon bombing. The actor and the congressman had often discussed “thwarting radical Islamic terrorism,” he explained.
Then came Russia’s takeover of Crimea, and Mr. Rohrabacher had to draw the line — in favor of Mr. Putin.
“There have been dramatic reforms in Russia that are not being recognized by my colleagues,” he said. “The churches are full. There are opposition papers being distributed on every newsstand in Russia. You’ve got people demonstrating in the parks. You’ve got a much different Russia than it was under Communism, but you’ve got a lot of people who still can’t get over that Communism has fallen.”