Now that he's developed a taste for politics, he wants glory. Apparently massive groveling by his fans isn't enough.

the man is possessed of an overweening vanity, the degree of which has rarely been seen on any world stage in history.

thugs don't get oilier, iow-

makes blair look like a saint in comparison.

think bad frank sinatra clone coupled with messianic/patriotic streak and a horrible knack of understanding perfectly how to push the button marked 'soccer' and 'girls' till the drooling rats wear out their desire.

he embodies all that is most reprehensible in the italian national character, in spades, just as bush does for america.

he adores the sound of his own voice and has his pick of the channels to deliver his message, over and over, till the sheep buy the brand from subliminal programming, by dint of merciless amounts of repetition.

he appears everywhere, anywhere, they will host him, and talks a blue streak, rich with self-congratulatory hype and swatches of statistics that baffle the public into thinking he is a capable leader, when really he is a fascist gasbag.

starting his last term, he was already the 5th richest man in the world. after his regnum, he had tripled his fortune, so count him in as one who definitely knows a lot about buttering both sides of the bread.
his political power would be far greater, were he not afflicted with a severe case of gucci-in-mouth syndrome, which pops up regularly enough to occasionally stall his climb further up the greasy pole of italian politics.

fortunately, the much slyer and more dangerous fascist, gianfranco fini, has zero charisma and a lesser gift of gab. he does not act like a  buffoon, so cannot be so easily ridiculed.

berlusconi is a glamour god to millions of myopic women of 60+, who unfortunately vote.

berlusconi looks like he just climbed out of a vat of vaseline, and if italy revotes him in, it will reduces italy's image worldwide to a that of a banana republic enthralled by a cartoon villain.

....and a deeply masochistic country, morally torn apart by its own contradictions. when the nation's best political hope is represented by an over-the-top comedian, you know how deep the cacca can get.

 hey, no place is perfect, right?

looking forward to more insights, de gondi, please keep them coming!

mozzarella anyone?

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty