Thursday, October 22, 2009



Teflon Silvio again

Forza Italia!
"Silvio Berlusconi's cutting remark about a female rival's lack of beauty has stirred a rare public backlash from thousands of Italian women who had largely kept silent about the Prime Minister's womanising and sex scandals. About 97,000 Italian women have signed the "Women offended by the premier" appeal after Berlusconi told the matronly, bespectacled leftist Rosy Bindi [below] that she was "more beautiful than intelligent" in a swipe at both her looks and brains...



Still, pollsters say that without a credible political rival to challenge him, the feminist backlash will do little to lower Berlusconi's support among conservative women voters - even if they may be less enthusiastic about him than before.

"Berlusconi has not changed his approach to women and it's not the first time he has made such comments about women," said Maurizio Pessato of the SWG polling group. "It's likely that some of the women already against him were spurred into action since the remark was so harsh, but others are used to this. We're in the phase where those supporting him continue to do so, and those against him are markedly so."

Another pollster, Luigi Crespi, said some female Berlusconi supporters may be disillusioned, but not enough to switch sides. In a country where few batted an eyelid when former showgirl Mara Carfagna [below] became equality minister and scantily-clad women are the mainstay on TV, especially channels owned by Berlusconi, his comments on women have so far triggered little outrage...

A slightly different picture of Signorina Carfagna here worksafe

For his part, Berlusconi has offered a half-hearted apology and brushed it off as a "joke" in a "moment of disappointment", prompting Bindi to say he had only aggravated the situation.

Source

I am somehow reminded of one of Winston Churchill's famous rejoinders: A female politician once called out to him in Parliament: "Winston! You're drunk"! Churchill replied: "And you, Madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning". It's probably lucky that there were no feminists around in those days.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What will keep Silvio on top is his "real-world" attitude, and the fact that he's not afraid to be honest. He's for real! And, believe it or not, most people are really sick of all the PC bullshit that's drowning us. I say BRAVO Silvio!

Anonymous said...

Silvio is a joke like his showman predecessor Mussi.

Anonymous said...

Berlusconi really is a joke. I don't understand why some people think his idiotic remarks are cool. I expect my representatives to be smart and polite and to the point. S.B. is none of these things. His only strong-suite is the ability to make money and even that is somewhat suspect because of the mafia ties and fondness of corporatism. He's not the kind of guy that would have made it in the free market economy of the U.S.

And since when has it become automatically awesome to be impolite just so you could prove the world that you're not PC. I bet all of you S.B. fans use the word nigger every day, right? It's possible to be free of PCism and polite at the same time you know. Even if you are a drunk obnoxious snob like Churchill.

jonjayray said...

Re: Anon 8:00

A Leftist doesn't like Churchill.

That figures

Mr. Clean said...

Remember, a leftist is anyone who does not agree with the extreme right.

Anon 8:00 said...

Sorry, I forgot us rightwingers are supposed to idolize people and honor them as gods. And put giant posters up and remember to thank the great ones like Churchill every day. And march in their honor and never criticize... No, wait...

Robert said...

The way I'd first heard Churchill's cited exchange go was Churchill telling the woman she was ugly, and she responded, "And you're drunk!" To which Churchill responded, "Yes, but in the morning I shall be sober, while you'll still be ugly."

Anonymous said...

The exchange was the lady speaking first and accusing Churchill of being drunk, to which he retorted - "and you madam are ugly, but I shall be sober in the morning". Ostensibly it took place at a dinner party.