pass the shoebag, Alice

[realthog]

Believe it or not, this isn't a parody from The Onion but a report from the Beeb about Silvio Berlusconi, who has recently suffered some setbacks in his efforts to set himself, Il Buce-style, above the law.

Berlusconi 'most persecuted man'

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has described himself as the most persecuted person "in the entire history of the world".

Mr Berlusconi also said he was "the best prime minister we can find today".

In an impassioned statement, he then mistakenly told reporters he had spent millions of euros on "judges", before correcting himself to say "lawyers".

Mr Berlusconi was speaking two days after Italy's top court lifted a law granting him immunity while in office.

Correspondents say the Constitutional Court's ruling means the 73-year-old billionaire will probably have to face a number of trials for corruption and bribery within months.

He has described the cases against him as "false, a farce", saying he will defend himself in court and make his accusers look ridiculous.

Bribery trial

The BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Rome says it has been a dramatic week for Mr Berlusconi, and he ended it with a typically defiant flourish.

He was asked by reporters about calls by opponents that he step down because his personal and legal problems were damaging Italy.

"The reality is completely the opposite," he replied. "In my opinion, and not only mine, I am the best prime minister we can find today." [. . .]

"I am without doubt the person who's been the most persecuted in the entire history of the world and the history of man," he declared. [. . .]

I mean, where the hell do they get these egos? Is it narcissistic imbecility or just stark insensitivity that makes Berlusconi think himself more persecuted than Jews in the Holocaust or in the Soviet pogroms, Native Americans who suffered under God's imperative to the White Man, any victim of slavery or a racist lynch mob anywhere . . .? You could add to the list pretty well bloody indefinitely, and there'd be damn' few among those tortured, tormented and slaughtered people who were reclining in the comfort of billionairedom.

This is Mugabe-level egotism. I hope the prosecutions for bribery and corruption pull Berlusconi down. We could do with fewer of such self-infatuated scum in humanity's corridors of power.

Comments

[mylefteye.livejournal.com]

*speechless*

[realthog.livejournal.com]

You mean you're not a Berlusconi fan?

[mylefteye.livejournal.com]

Does he have any?

[realthog.livejournal.com]

Does he have any?

Lots of Italians, apparently. Alas.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Every prostitute in Italy.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't the headline have read "Berlusconi -- "I have the fakest tan in history"?

And Paul, that's "Il Duce style" not "Il Buce style." Remember where Berlusconi's "il padrino."

[realthog.livejournal.com]

And Paul, that's "Il Duce style" not "Il Buce style."

Um, no: it wasn't a typo. It was as in "George W. 'Il' Buce" . . .

The past eight years are the nearest I've come to living under fascist rule. Even at her worst, the Mad Thatch never condoned torture.

Hm. And she also supported universal health care.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

No, I wasn't calling it a typo. I was suggesting that Silvio is patterning himself on Benny.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

I was suggesting that Silvio is patterning himself on Benny.

Hill or Mussolini?

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Seems to be both.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

Maybe not "most persecuted man", but he could, of course, lay claim to "most persecuted moron" status.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

He's inherited Bush's mantle of the stupidest president in the West.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

It's a difficult standard to attain, but he's doing his darnedest . . .

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Not with the president of Georgia still in the running.

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

I think there was a bit of a Freudian slip there when he was talking about how much he'd spent on judges...

[realthog.livejournal.com]

No wonder they call him Burlesqueyoni . . .

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwwwwwwww.

So much sympathy I have. NOT.

May he lose all his euros and rot in Italian prison.

Love, C.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

May he lose all his euros and rot in Italian prison.

Hard to tell which is the more pleasurable potential outcome, really.