Before the Parade passes by

The highlight of any Sunday is reading Walter Scott's Personality Parade. He'll take questions from across the nation and, whether he knows the answer or not, give a definite response.

In this week's, Henry R. [Rollins?] of Los Angeles asks how much power Vladimir Putin has compared to past Russian leaders. I would expect most might say that the former communist leaders had more power, even a relatively weak one like Gorbachev. You'd figure at least Breshnev, who put down freedom breaking out in Czechoslovakia in 1968, had more power. But no, expert Walter Scott says Putin's the most powerful leader Russia's had since Stalin. Stalin! Too bad he can't fix an election in the Ukraine.