VAUDEVILLE – AT 10:02 A.M. ET:   Vlady Putin and Eddie Snowden – together again!  What excitement!  What ratings!  What revulsion!

Turns out that Vladimir Putin did one of those call-in TV shows, and who called in?  Why, Edward Snowden, that renowned American patriot and privacy expert.  From Howard Kurtz at Fox: 

What are the odds?

I mean, Vladimir Putin does a call-in show and one guy who happens to get through—to ask a question in English—is Ed Snowden?

That is one amazing coincidence—almost as amazing as those soldiers who mysteriously materialized in Crimea turning out to be Russian.

In a few moments, Snowden became part of a Soviet-style propaganda machine, even though he clearly views himself as a public-spirited crusader.

After Snowden leaked all those NSA documents to the Guardian and the Washington Post, which shared a Pulitzer Prize this week, he fled to Hong Kong and then to Moscow, which was more than happy to tweak President Obama by harboring him.

But Snowden is clearly drawn to the spotlight, and he played a starring role in Putin’s political theater on Thursday.

He gave the Russian leader a chance to beat his chest about how moral he is, compared to the bad old USA.

Keep in mind that Snowden is not just some zealous activist. Some people think he’s a traitor, others think he’s a hero sparking a global debate. But there is no dispute that he is a fugitive from justice.

Nor did he just ask a question. He gave a little speech, saying that White House and other reviews of the NSA surveillance program had concluded “that these programs are ineffective in stopping terrorism. They also found that they unreasonably intrude into the private lives of ordinary citizens.”

Having delivered his anti-NSA spin, Snowden serves up the pitch for Putin to hit: “Does Russia intercept, store, or analyze in any way the communications of millions of individuals? And do you believe that simply increasing the effectiveness of intelligence or law enforcement investigations can justify placing societies, rather than subjects, under surveillance?”

What a coup for Putin.

COMMENT:  Read Putin's reply.  He's better than Pinocchio.  Then take a seasickness pill.

April 18, 2014