Remember the Kremlin

There was a time when a meeting, any meeting, between the POTUS and the leader of Russia would be the top story across the media landscape.

That's no longer the case, and only in part because there's no more Soviet Union and the Cold War is ancient history, or at least not as cold as it used to be in the Khruschev/Brezhnev/Gorby days.

The truth is, Bush and Putin now have to compete with everything else that fascinates the media.

Looking at yesterday's front pages, the New York Times had that odd photo of the two men taking a drive in Vlad's 1956 Volga--see story, Page A-10. The Washington Post had three pictures of world leaders at the 60th anniversary of WWII's end--see stories, Page A-17 and A-18. USA Today has a small picture of the Volga drive, with big spreads on "City, state cellphone taxes on the rise" and "Chronic pain: The enemy within."

The L.A. Times, in a throwback, does lead the paper with "Bush, Putin Set Aside Feuds at Talks in Russia." The New York Post went with photos of a Giants football star and his alleged mistress, "curvy 'Cupcake.'"

Cable gave the Bush trip some time, but sandwiched between a school bus crash, a police shootout in L.A., the coming hurricane season, Iraq, Bolton, two girls found dead in Illinois, an amber alert for a missing 16-year-old boy, the Jacko trial (Macaulay Culkin to testify this week!), Mary Kay LeTourneau's "Love Nest" (Fox), best places to vacation (CNN), and MSNBC's report on a bread image of the runaway bride that was being peddled on eBay. The headline: "Toast Deal Is Now Toast."

I'm not saying that Bush's latest peering into Putin's soul should overshadow everything else in the news universe. But it was an interesting moment, given Putin's gradual erosion of democracy and the spat over his insistence that Soviet troops were "invited" into the Baltic states in 1945 to dominate those countries for the next half-century. Not to mention Putin's insistence that Russian elections are more democratic than the U.S. variety.

But that is the nutritious sort of news, and it's hard to compete with curvy Cupcakes.

Here are some news reports from Moscow. The New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, joined by President Bush and dozens of other leaders, commemorated the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany today with a resplendent military parade in Red Square that was steeped in Soviet symbols and new Russian pride. Standing in front of Lenin's Tomb - not on it, as Soviet leaders once did - Mr. Putin expressed no contrition for the Soviet Union's domination of Eastern and Central Europe that followed the end of World War II, as some leaders there had hoped he would. Instead, he said that that war's legacy had demonstrated the necessity for a new unity with Russia against new threats."

Los Angeles Times: "In a day of mourning and splendid pageantry reminiscent of Russia's powerful past, world leaders gathered today under a towering Soviet emblem in Red Square to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. President Bush sat in the place of honor next to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, as 7,000 servicemen marched in crisp parade formation to the tolling of the Kremlin bells, the roar of deep-throated military chants and the flapping of the bright red hammer-and-sickle banners that for decades after the war symbolized Russia's enmity with its World War II allies."

Chicago Tribune: "The display of solidarity between Putin and Bush was a sharp contrast to recent tensions between the two leaders over Bush's criticism of Russia's retreat from democracy. . . . For all of Bush's repeated demands that Russia adopt thorough democratic reforms, the carefully cultivated images of Bush and Putin walking side by side here Monday and reviewing the marching and singing military procession at Moscow's Victory Day parade could not be clearer."

Plenty of chatter over Chuck Hagel's remarks about judicial filibusters on "This Week," where the Nebraska senator said: "The Republicans' hands aren't clean on this either. What we did with Bill Clinton's nominees - about 62 of them - we just didn't give them votes in committee or we didn't bring them up."