# Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak Appeared As Obama White House Visitor At Least 22 Times **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 3, 2017, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276 "2017-03-03T08:20:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/21 "2017-03-03T13:52:06Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Nah. This one’s been around long enough to know better… (Circa 2003). Proving that age can wither posters and stale their infinite lack of variety. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/22 "2017-03-03T14:00:19Z")
This is among the most frightening posts I’ve ever read in any kind of social media. Here we have one person, the esteemed **arfurvirus** , hysterical that the Russian ambassador met with the President of the United States more than twenty times, yet is not concerned that this same diplomat met with campaign staff of a private citizen running for POTUS. The frightening part is that there are tens of millions of our countrymen and -women who believe this is a smoking gun. And they vote. I weep for our nation. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/23 "2017-03-03T14:13:16Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > This is among the most frightening posts I’ve ever read in any kind of social media. Here we have one person, the esteemed **arfurvirus** , hysterical that the Russian ambassador met with the President of the United States more than twenty times, yet is not concerned that this same diplomat met with campaign staff of a private citizen running for POTUS. He’s not “hysterical” about this - he just thinks that he’s caught out us libtards in some massive “Gotcha ya!” of hypocrisy, unaware that the two things he is comparing are so fundamentally and so blatantly different that his assertions of hypocrisy are laughably ludicrous. I mean, the whole thing was wrapped up by the second response but we do like to keep poking posters like this if only to see them do their little dance. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/24 "2017-03-03T14:24:29Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > Another brain-damaged righty joins to “show” us how smart he is. This is a warning for personal insults. As long as this thread is not in The Pit, insulting other posters is not permitted. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/25 "2017-03-03T14:39:03Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > This is a warning for personal insults. As long as this thread is not in The Pit, insulting other posters is not permitted. > > [/moderating] Then can we get it moved? Because it seems to be more of a rant than a discussion of anything election-related. The OP is not looking for a debate, is not asking a question, is not seeking opinions. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/26 "2017-03-03T14:49:02Z")
Some perspective, from the [NYT](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/20/us/politics/donald-trump-russia.html?_r=0) > [@](#): > > It is not uncommon for a presidential campaign to speak to foreign officials, which makes the dispute particularly unusual. > [@](#): > > Under ordinary circumstances, few in Washington would blink at the statements by Mr. Ryabkov or Mr. Kislyak. It is common for foreign governments to reach out to American presidential candidates, and many foreign diplomats believe it is part of their job to get to know people who may soon be crucial to maintaining alliances or repairing broken relationships. > [@](#): > > Contacts with potential adversaries, such as Russia, are also not unusual, but they are more complicated. Michael McFaul, who advised the Obama campaign in 2008 and later served as United States ambassador to Russia, said that he traveled to Moscow during the presidential race that year and that “everyone in Moscow knew that I was advising the campaign.” > > The American Embassy even hosted a lunch for him with Russian officials. But “I was not there to discuss Obama policy but to better inform my views on Russian attitudes about U.S.-Russia relations,” Mr. McFaul said. > > He said that during the transition, Russian officials wanted to talk about policy issues, but the Obama administration officials refused — in keeping with the tradition that there should be only “one president at a time.” So the issue is really not about contacts with Russian officials, but rather whether there was collusion about election tampering (or possibly Logan Act violations), and in the specific case of Sessions, his misleading response to the Senate. FWIW, it’s being alleged in various right wing sources that during Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign he opened a back channel to Iran via a diplomat named William G. Miller, to communicate to them that a relationship-reset opportunity was coming. But I’ve been unable to find this in mainstream sources, so skepticism is warranted. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/27 "2017-03-03T14:53:13Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > This is among the most frightening posts I’ve ever read in any kind of social media. Here we have one person, the esteemed **arfurvirus** , hysterical that the Russian ambassador met with the President of the United States more than twenty times,\*\* yet is not concerned that this same diplomat met with campaign staff of a private citizen running for POTUS.\*\* > > The frightening part is that there are tens of millions of our countrymen and -women who believe this is a smoking gun. And they vote. > > I weep for our nation. The frightening part is that a majority of Congress believes this. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/28 "2017-03-03T15:43:56Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Proving that age can wither posters and stale their infinite lack of variety. it was unused from its creation to only a few months ago. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/29 "2017-03-03T16:04:23Z")
Presidents meet with foreign ambassadors all the time. It’s part of conducting foreign policy, which presidents _get_ to do. Candidates and their staffs do not get to conduct their _own_ foreign policy. Attempting to do so is a violation of the Logan act. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/30 "2017-03-03T17:07:34Z")
I hear Obama actually sat in the Oval Office! And, he fathered two black children! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/31 "2017-03-03T17:18:12Z")
Trump speaks English. Obama also speaks English. Therefore they’re exactly equal. ---
**Author:** ![arfurvirus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@arfurvirus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arfurvirus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/32 "2017-03-03T17:21:12Z")
Bringing up the Logan Act that the Obama Administration ignored from Bilderberg to Schumer cozing up in 2003 [http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/03/flashback-chuck-schumer-meets-vlad-putin-new-york-city/](http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/03/flashback-chuck-schumer-meets-vlad-putin-new-york-city/) Or This week as the Russian Ambassador hung out with the Dems, [https://twitter.com/TEN\_GOP/status/837428361882263552](https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/837428361882263552) “Oh NOES” The Russians… Rules For Radicals, the left is practicing them. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/33 "2017-03-03T17:26:38Z")
> [@arfurvirus](#): > > Or This week as the Russian Ambassador hung out with the Dems, > [https://twitter.com/TEN\_GOP/status/837428361882263552](https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/837428361882263552) I know when I hang out with my friends, literally none of them look or talk to me. The photographic evidence of them ignoring me is the proof that we are good friends. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. [Retreats to a corner to cry] ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/34 "2017-03-03T17:46:12Z")
> [@arfurvirus](#): > > “Oh NOES” The Russians… Rules For Radicals, the left is practicing them. I have yet to find a single instance where arguing with someone who brought up Saul Alinsky was a productive thing to do. Seriously, hands up, any liberal who heard of Saul Alinsky before the right went crazy about him. Anyone? _Anyone_? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/35 "2017-03-03T18:31:05Z")
Me. He was right, all along, and snotty liberal intellectuals ignored him, sneered at his old fashioned ideas about organizing from the bottom. Radicals hack out the path and clear the site, progressives build the cabins and the firepit. Liberals show up when the hot showers are installed. My favorite Saul Alinsky moment was his comment on Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin: “Those guys couldn’t organize a Hadassah luncheon!”. He was right, and we should have listened. But you don’t get wise by being smart, you get wise by making mistakes. And so it went. ---
**Author:** ![SingleMalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/singlemalt/32/3961_2.png) [@SingleMalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleMalt)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/36 "2017-03-03T19:14:12Z")
> [@arfurvirus](#): > > Bringing up the Logan Act that the Obama Administration ignored from Bilderberg to Schumer cozing up in 2003 > [http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/03/flashback-chuck-schumer-meets-vlad-putin-new-york-city/](http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/03/flashback-chuck-schumer-meets-vlad-putin-new-york-city/) > > Or This week as the Russian Ambassador hung out with the Dems, > [https://twitter.com/TEN\_GOP/status/837428361882263552](https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/837428361882263552) > “Oh NOES” The Russians… Rules For Radicals, the left is practicing them. Yeah, Schumer [seems worried.](https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/837730437564936192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Or not. You seem to have trouble grasping that it’s not the meetings, per se, but they lying about it. “If you lie in the interview, don’t expect to keep the job.” ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/37 "2017-03-03T19:15:58Z")
> [@arfurvirus](#): > > Bringing up the Logan Act that the Obama Administration ignored from Bilderberg to Schumer cozing up in 2003 > [http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/03/flashback-chuck-schumer-meets-vlad-putin-new-york-city/](http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/03/flashback-chuck-schumer-meets-vlad-putin-new-york-city/) > > Or This week as the Russian Ambassador hung out with the Dems, > [https://twitter.com/TEN\_GOP/status/837428361882263552](https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/837428361882263552) > “Oh NOES” The Russians… Rules For Radicals, the left is practicing them. Admittedly, I don’t know a lot about the Logan Act (I specialize in [“bird law”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o43C1kufMaM)), but how does having a doughnut with Putin apply? What aspect of a meeting in public and having a doughnut violates the Act? Is it because it was Krispy Kreme? I prefer Dunkin Doughnuts, personally. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/38 "2017-03-03T19:22:03Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Admittedly, I don’t know a lot about the Logan Act (I specialize in [“bird law”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o43C1kufMaM)), but how does having a doughnut with Putin apply? What aspect of a meeting in public and having a doughnut violates the Act? Is it because it was Krispy Kreme? I prefer Dunkin Doughnuts, personally. I’d like to know what the Obama Administration was doing in 2003. Besides not existing. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/39 "2017-03-03T20:09:40Z")
I would bet $20 that this guy (arfur) is a paid member of the [troll army](http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-internet-trolls-and-donald-trump-2016-7). ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276/40 "2017-03-03T20:12:59Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Admittedly, I don’t know a lot about the Logan Act (I specialize in [“bird law”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o43C1kufMaM)), but how does having a doughnut with Putin apply? What aspect of a meeting in public and having a doughnut violates the Act? Is it because it was Krispy Kreme? I prefer Dunkin Doughnuts, personally. [Schumer responded](https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/837730437564936192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw): > [@](#): > > Happily talk re: my contact w Mr. Putin & his associates, took place in '03 in full view of press & public under oath. Would you &your team? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/781276.md?page=3)