Even copypaste from Wiki didn't go through well.
1. The whole stuff about "bomber gap" is repeated too readily by the tropers who did "Red Scare", "Fifties" and this section. I'm not ready to say that USSR strategic bomber force _wasn't_ "200 tops" at any given time in its history (contrary to bomber gap theory of 2000+). Therefore, the hysteria was there and bomber gap was a myth.
But a true Troper should have noticed the irony: while the bomber gap was "disproved" in 1956 with M3's, they didn't notice Tu-95's that entered mass production THAT SAME YEAR. Their total production was 500+ (counting the 170 or so of the modern variant MS, of course).
Note that the statement "their missiles were not much better, either" is somewhat contrary to the Useful facts all around it. Soviets built helluva lot ICB Ms; they implemented MIRV first.
2. More vexing, though, are rather silly fantasies about comissars crawling back and forth through the Tu-95 fuselage.
First, while the whole comissar thing is very trope-worthy and often mused about in fiction, THERE WEREN'T ANY "COMISSARS" in Soviet armed forces after 1942. Yep, none of them. There were zampolits (political assistants to CO) attached to units, but they were just like Psy Op officers in US Army and held no authority over troops in combat (though if CO was killed, they often took command).
Second, the notion of zampolit (or comissar, for that matter) riding shotgun in a strategic bomber on patrol is rather confusing. No, wait, it's stupid.
As a sidenote: comissars (and later zampolits) in the WWII were a mixed bag: sometimes they were noted for mingling with military necessity, and sometimes they did exactly what comissars do in WH 40 K - that is, raised the morale by example. There were about 2000 casualties in the ranks of zampolits during 1943 alone (as there were 1 per unit, that's a lot).
I don't intend on holy war or anything like it. Just saying that facts > lulz.
The "Blackjack" may be cool, but the Tu-95 is just so.... Soviet. Gigantic, archaic, badass, and FREAKING LOUD!! It deserves more usage. But the blackjack does have the single largest bomb load for a plane, which is really... Wait, what? It's only forty freaking tons!? What the hell-ass is that? The cargo capacity of a midsize dirigible is 50- 200 tons! No wonder the Soviet Union uses Kirov airships in Red Alert. Blackjack has to carry over three times it's bombload in fuel just to get where it's going. But, I guess if your bombs are nuclear that won't matter as much.