I Am Rubber, And You Are Stalinist Glue

It takes a real Maverick to say "back atcha." That's just what John McCain did last Thursday. As a response, of sorts, to Vladimir Putin's op-ed piece in the New York Times where he pointed out the dangers of "American exceptionalism," Senator McCain wrote an letter to Pravda. John is all about setting the record straight, so he set about making sure that the people of Russia knew what was really going down.
“Since my purpose here is to dispel falsehoods used by Russia's rulers to perpetuate their power and excuse their corruption, let me begin with that untruth,” McCain wrote. “I am not anti-Russian. I am pro-Russian, more pro-Russian than the regime that misrules you today.” Oooo! Snap!

The Man From Arizona continued, "A Russian citizen could not publish a testament like the one I just offered. President Putin and his associates do not believe in these values. They don't respect your dignity or accept your authority over them. They punish dissent and imprison opponents. They rig your elections. They control your media. They harass, threaten, and banish organizations that defend your right to self-governance. To perpetuate their power they foster rampant corruption in your courts and your economy and terrorize and even assassinate journalists who try to expose their corruption.

They write laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn. They throw the members of a punk rock band in jail for the crime of being provocative and vulgar and for having the audacity to protest President Putin's rule." Double snaps in a Z formation!
We know this it the truth, since "Pravda" translates to just that in English. It might have been more truthful if John would have mentioned the punk rock band by name: Pussy Riot. But maybe that's too much truth, even for a Maverick.