Antonio Polito: Berlusconi survives because opposition is unelectable
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Independent Minds
My British friends ask me how it is possible, with the scandal engulfing Berlusconi, that he did not lose the election? There are many reasons for this, all difficult to explain to a non-Italian.
One must first of all understand that we Italians are very tough on politicians who take public money but very tolerant towards politicians who pay with their own money. Remember the Mani Politi(Clean Hands) investigation 16 years ago? Italy's biggest political parties were destroyed by bribery scandals where they were receiving money. But because Berlusconi is very rich, he has always been the one accused of the lesser offence of paying out the cash. It is a charge the Prime Minister has always denied, whether it concerned British lawyer David Mills or the high-class escort who recently claimed she had spent the night with him for a large sum of money.
Sexual scandals, on the other hand, are regarded as far less serious than financial ones. Italians regard private life and sexuality very differently from the British – it would require a book to explain (and maybe even that would not be enough). The simple fact is that a man with many women is an object of admiration; this is not an attitude unique to Italy but perhaps we are less hypocritical about acknowledging it than some other nations.
Another reason for the electorate's failure to punish Berlusconi is the fact that to do so would mean elevating the opposition – and that is something Italians have no intention of doing. The opposition, led by the Democratic Party, is not yet electable. In the same way that the British electorate had no appetite for the Tories after Major, the two disastrous years of the centre-left government of Romano Prodi still burns in the Italian memory.
So those voters who do abandon Berlusconi tend to shift to his most combative ally, the Northern League. The one clear trend that can be discerned is an unprecedented strengthening of the xenophobic and anti-European party of Umberto Bossi. If Berlusconi should one day fall under a bus, his successor could be someone even worse.
The writer is editor of Il Riformista, a centre-left Italian newspaper
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Comments
(Aside from employing at least one journalist -Johann Hari- who likes to describe himself as left-wing yet who supported the invasion of Iraq on supposedly humanitarian grounds when opposing it was urgent, there is an apparent policy of mixing a bit of leftwing content with a bunch of rightwing croc).
Also is Polito somehow self-obsessed or was writing "Mani Politi" instead of "Mani Pulite" not his typo?
But. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT NAKED LADIED OF 18, 19, and he does not need the wife. Is she going with Beconoli on the boat? I like her looks. Is she divorced? Sarkozy shows the legs of his wife. This no good Hockey players? Italians regard private life and sexuality very differently from the British. They eat Spaghetti with HOT Sauce That Indians like BUT UK does not like these. They like Chips and SOYA sauce LOUSY mix but that is it Pakis and India cricket. His successor could be someone even worse.
I know Sarkozy, Brown, and they will have problems I tell you this now
I thank you
Firozali A Mulla
But..You see he is driving left , right center in the eyes and nose.
One must first of all understand that we Italians are very tough on politicians who take public money but very tolerant towards politicians who pay with their own money.
Antonio Polito: Berlusconi survives because the opposition is unelectable.The writer is editor of Il Riformista, a centre-left Italian newspaper.the Northern League. If Berlusconi should one day fall under a bus, his successor could be someone even worse. I smell fish and prone curry and smashed potatoes by the toes.
I thank you
Firozali A Mulla
This article completely ignores the role of Berlusconi in controlling the five leading TV channels, from which Italians, who don't read newspapers like the British, obtain almost all of their news. They are indoctrinated to believe that the Prodi government was a disaster and Berlusconi is a success.
On the main TV news TG1, under a new head appointed directly by Berlusconi, Augusto Minzolini, there has been a complete blackout of the scandals involving the prime minister and other problems like the rubbish crisis in Palermo.
Prodi was far from a success (mainly because of his lack of a senate majority and his need to rely on untrustworthy people like Mastella), but under him the economy was growing, debt was under control, unemployment was falling. Contrast this with Berlusconi - economy in free fall, taxes higher than ever, unemployment rocketing, reforms being REVERSED, corrupt accounting has been decriminalised, rubbish in Naples has simply been moved and hidden, people in L'Aquila have yet to be rehoused.
So what this is saying is because Berlusconi has a lot of money he can hire a lot of prostitutes and because he has a lot of prostitutes Italians admire him - is this just male Italians or do female Italians admire him too? And I guess all the corruption makes him like the Godfather, Don Berlusconi...
The church has also their fault. They supported him, and still don't condamn him!