In his talk, he criticized the President’s response to Russia’s takeover of Crimea, asking the group “Does anybody think that Vladimir Putin would have gone into Crimea had George W. Bush been president of the United States?” He then answers his own question.”No! Even Putin is smart enough to know that Bush would have punched him in the nose in about 10 seconds!”
Boehner even pantomimed what the proposed punch would look like, much to the delight of his audience.
It was a theatrical showing. And a dishonest one.
When Russia invaded the Republic of Georgia, a U.S. ally, in 2008, Bush did not come close to punching Putin or then-Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in the nose — literally or diplomatically. In fact, the country’s response to the invasion — which did not include military action — was so weak one Georgian soldier fighting for his country’s sovereignty told The New York Times that “America and the European Union are spitting on us.”
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