Spinning (An Election) Yarn

Are they kidding, framing Putin’s puppet-elect Medvedev in a photo-op with an old woman spinning yarn?  The only yarn being spun here is the idea that this wet-behind-the-ears politburo suit is a legitimate successor to the presidency. 

Looking at Medvedev, I can’t help but think of 2000, imagining this guy as Putin’s version of our own George W.

(5:15 PST — edited for coherence)

(image: Dmitry Astakhov – AFP/Getty Images.  February 26, 2006.  Ufa.  Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev speaks with a woman spinning yarn during a visit to a home for the elderly and disabled.  Via WAPO Day in Photos)