Hey, remember when one thing you could always count on the right wing for was its hatred of Russia?

Not any more. They just love Putin — he’s the new right wing hero.

After all, he believes in cracking down on crime, of stamping out those gays, and for forcing a state-sponsored religion upon his citizens.

I’m actually happy that they are admitting this. After all, we on the left have constantly pointed out that the things the right loves are shared by the Taliban and other haters of freedom. No abortions, no gay rights, no equal pay for women, no freedom of religion, no right not to be randomly searched — you get all that and more in Iraq and increasingly in Russia, too. The tea party crazies who proclaim “Don’t tread on me” are perfectly willing to tread on everyone else.

Now Matt Drudge has even gone so far as to proclaim Putin “The Leader of the Free World”. I am not making this up.

Rod Dreher, who blogs for The American Conservative, cheers Putin’s pro-Christian government, unlike our terrible country that has a Constitution that prevents such things. How dare we live up to the Founder’s explicit desires?

And Pat Buchanan is thrilled that Russia is fighting against the “homosexual agenda” and I assume he cheers when he sees gays getting beaten up in public places in Moscow. Why can’t America be more like that?, he wonders. (As I’ve said before, you should not be too harsh on Pat Buchanan. After all, his parents died in the holocaust. They fell off a guard tower.)

These right wing Putin-lovers, by the way, are the same people who yell that Democrats are “traitors” for suggesting that maybe we should have a national health care policy or work with the UN to solve problems around the world.