And yet we have now come to know, thanks to Congressman Jim McDermott’s Daily Kos diary Friday, that the repeated (15 – count’em – 15!) rounds of seemingly spontaneous applause and standing ovations (3 – not just 1, but 3!) were probably prompted, that numerous seats in the Chamber were occupied by planted fill-ins (interns), and that none of you even knew what Berlusconi was saying except, perhaps, when he spoke in English.

Plus, very shrewdly on his part, when he spoke in English, it was to tell the heart-tugging, patriotic story of his father taking him to an American war cemetery as a boy and making him promise never to betray the Americans who had saved Italy. (Please excuse me as I dab my eyes.)  For those who may not know it, Congressman McDermott then followed up his diary statements with a letter of inquiry to Speaker of the House Hastert. I would say that means something.

You, in particular, Senator Clinton, have been shown repeatedly on Italian television, nodding approvingly, your eyes seemingly moist with emotion, and you have been quoted as saying something to the effect that you were very “moved” by Berlusconi’s address. (You can see a short video clip here: Click in the right-hand column on "Calda accoglienza per Berlusconi a Congresso Usa" – “Warm reception for Berlusconi at the U.S. Congress”.)

One newspaper, for example, “Il Tempo”, published this article, focusing solely on Senator Clinton (sorry if the quote isn’t exact, but I’ve had to translate it back into English from the Italian):

”I was very moved by the memory of our dead in Italy”

WASHINGTON – “It was an excellent speech, which really expressed the deep ties between Italy and the United States,” declared Senator Hillary Clinton, commenting the Prime Minister’s address. The former First Lady wanted to be present at a meeting of the Italian-American parliamentary delegation with Berlusconi, at the end of his visit to the Congress, and was warmly greeted by the Italian Premier. “The end, especially, touched me,” she said, “when Berlusconi paid homage to the young Americans who died in Italy, because I felt involved through my family: my husband’s father was wounded in Italy.”

Another, “Il Giornale”, published another article with an eloquent title: “Applause for Berlusconi, America is with him”. In addition to mentioning the same quote as above, it also says:

Because Congress gives him three standing ovations and interrupts him 15 times with thunderous applause. And because yes, the audience has a majority of Republicans and a few Democrats are absent, but it is substantially bipartisan. To the point that even Hillary Clinton is one of the small group of Senators (including Bill Frist, the majority leader in the Senate) who, as protocol dictates in the case of illustrious guests, accompany Berlusconi into the hallway that leads to the entrance to the floor of the House. It will be precisely the former First Lady who first wishes him a warm “Good luck” and then applauds him a number of times, to the point that – during two passages – she accompanies the Prime Minister’s words with eloquent assenting nods of her head.

What to say?

To give you the benefit of the doubt, over here we all know what a charmer he can be when he really turns it on. Maybe you didn’t. But after all, among his past trades, he’s been an actor and a singer, and has spent decades in the entertainment business; he knows how important image is (have you noticed that, unlike the rest of us, he’s getting younger as the years go by?), and knows how to give a rousing speech. And were you aware that there is an election campaign in progress in Italy (elections are just 5 weeks away), and that Berlusconi is quite possibly fighting for his political life (and to guarantee a continuation of his prosecution immunity)?

So I can only think that you fell for it. You fell into his trap. And, whether you know it or not, you are now being used to validate Berlusconi’s and the center-right’s prestige and legitimacy on the international, and therefore and automatically the Italian, political stage. By the way, the two newspapers above, the ones that focus on you, Senator Clinton, are rightwing papers. You are being used as election propaganda for President Bush’s rightwing buddy and ally and, as a result, the hawkish center-right coalition. Did you know that Berlusconi and his government sent Italy into the Iraq war (even if allegedly only for “peacekeeping” purposes) as Bush’s ally against the will of the majority of the Italian people? Did you ever hear about the “peace banners from every balcony” campaign, or see the huge protests that took place in Italy? There are still a few banners still hanging, as a matter of fact.

Do you realize that if the center-right wins again in Italy, it could be a boost for voter confidence in the Republicans in the U.S.? The Italian and American conservative pals will just continue ping-ponging their mutual support back and forth, bolstering each other as needed, all the while denying with a straight face that they meddle in other countries’ politics (as Bush did after his meeting with Berlusconi on Tuesday).

May I respectfully say that I’m extremely pissed off and very, very worried?

Unfortunately it seems the harm may have already been done – the cows have left the barn, and it might not be possible to get them back in again. Just to give you an idea of what effect the whole story has had over here, I am including my translation of an article by Gaetano Quagliariello that appeared in Rome’s newspaper, “Il Messaggero” on Friday, two days after the address before Congress.

HOW MUCH A SPEECH WEIGHS ON THE ELECTIONS

Giovanni Sabbatucci was right when, in the columns of this newspaper, he maintained that foreign policy does not, in itself, change votes. However, I believe that Berlusconi’s performance before the American Congress may affect the rest of the election campaign, for at least two reasons, which are only indirectly connected with foreign policy problems.

The first reason has to do with the importance of the event and the quality of the address. Since yesterday, it has become more evident that the action of the center-right government has had its dignity, which has been acknowledged at the international level. (...) It may be stated that the strategy of that part of the opposition that tends to depict this last legislature as a nightmare from which we must free ourselves, has suffered a hard blow. After Washington, it is more difficult to paint the Berlusconi government as a tainted parenthesis that must be closed as soon as possible. If the center-right manages to ride the wave created by the American success, Prodi will have to modify his strategy (...) thus running the risk of exposing the cracks that exist between the moderate and the more radical parts of his alliance.

At this point, it is easier to understand the second indirect result that Berlusconi’s speech could produce. The Prime Minister tied the policy of his center-right government in with a plausible scenario of the evolution of world balances. (...) In this analysis he used very moderate tones. (...)  His address thus focused on the most solid aspects of neoconservative analyses, discarding the excesses and most controversial angles. For this reason, he managed to draw the earnest applause of women and men like Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy, who certainly cannot be suspected of having an electoral fondness for the Italian Prime Minister.

This success creates embarrassment in the ranks of the center-left. Not only because it makes it even more difficult to limit Berlusconi’s Americanism to his privileged relationship with Bush. Even more so because it will be arduous for the opposition to contrast, as it has up to now, the Prime Minister’s America with another America that is more moderate and less extremist than Bush’s. Now, in fact, it is clear that with regard to the fundamental problems of international balance, even that America agrees with Berlusconi’s way of thinking.

(...)

We must limit ourselves to stating that, for the reasons given here, Berlusconi scored a bull’s eye in Washington, also in the election perspective. Otherwise, for the sake of seriousness, it is better to wait until after April 10th to discuss the matter.

(Emphasis mine)

As far as I’m concerned, April 10th will be too late.

Is it too much to ask for an explanation or justification for the exceptionally warm reception, rounds of applause, standing ovations, and starry eyes? Or perhaps, on the contrary, for a stance-taking statement by other Congresspersons and Senators who feel they were duped into playing the unwitting chorus in an election campaign commercial for Silvio Berlusconi? Don’t you feel used? If so, where’s your outrage?

Who else, among our distinguished elected readers and diary writers, was present? Could someone else please speak up and tell us how, in their opinion, it really went?

Grazie.