Putin's America?

McCain/Palin have not made themselves available to the press corps, much to Andrew Sullivan's disgust. He's compared the lack of interviews to the repressive treatment of the press in Putin's Russia. For example:

• This really is more like Putin's Potemkin democracy than the tradition of American to-and-fro and open debate.
• this is the spirit of Vladimir Putin
• Putin's America, Ctd.
• If you want to know what it's like to live in Putin's Russia, the Republican party is giving you a good taste.
  

This analogy is out of line, because Putin murders journalists. 21 journalists have been killed under Putin, making it the third most dangerous place in the world for journalists (behind Iraq and Algeria). It's outrageous to equate declining an interview with taking a life.

Sullivan's defense of his analogy ("this is the spirit of Vladimir Putin" link, above) is that McCain's media control, while not as severe as Putin's media control, is in the same league and unprecedented in modern American elections. This is ridiculous, because Putin's exerts actual control backed by murder. In fact, there's no restriction on the right of the media to report on or criticize McCain, and they like to do so, sometimes pretty outrageously.

And, frankly, why wasn't Sullivan calling Obama a bloodthirsty tyrant back when the story was Obama's tight press restrictions?