Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: altro bell'articolo dell'economist : stavolta sulle elezioni  "italiane" - BERLUSCONI'S BURLESQUE

THE elections on March 28th and 29th in 13 of Italy’s 20 regions were
meant to seal Silvio Berlusconi’s resurgence after a run of scandals
over his private life. Eleven regions are held by the centre-left
opposition. The prime minister, coasting on a wave of sympathy after
an attack by a mentally unstable man in December, had hoped his People
of Freedom (PdL) movement might oust up to five centrist and left-wing
governors. But its campaign is in chaos—and the government’s ratings
are plunging.
To think that it all started with a bread roll. That is what Alfredo
Milioni, a former bus-driver charged with registering the PdL’s
candidates in Lazio (which includes Rome), first said had lured him
from the queue at the electoral office on February 27th. He later
offered two other explanations for missing the deadline. Party leaders
claimed he had fallen into a trap set by the opposition. But nobody
disputes that he returned after the deadline had expired. Electoral
officials duly refused to accept the PdL’s slate. That, and two failed
court appeals, has left the ruling party out of the race in Lazio, one
of five potential swing regions. It was almost excluded in Lombardy
too, this time because some of its signatures seemed dubious.
What do you do if you are in a fix, having failed to abide by the
rules? In the case of Silvio Berlusconi, you alter the rules. On March
5th his cabinet approved a decree to allow the candidates to run after
all. President Giorgio Napolitano signed it into law, prompting one
opposition leader, Antonio Di Pietro, to call for his impeachment. The
decree transformed a farce into yet another example of Mr Berlusconi’s
contempt for the rule of law, of a piece with a new draft law to allow
ministers to delay criminal trials against them.
Yet the cabinet’s decree has united his often fractious opponents and
so far failed to achieve its objective. On March 8th yet another court
ruled against the PdL, saying that a government ordinance could not
change regional law. Moreover, said the judges, PdL representatives
were required to have been at the electoral office when the deadline
expired, and there was no proof they were.
The ruling added to a growing impression of incompetence among PdL
officials. Umberto Bossi, the Northern League leader, has called them
“amateurs out of their depth”. This is damaging to Mr Berlusconi
because he has sold himself as leader of a team that gets results. His
government was already losing ground in the polls after a scandal over
public-works contracts. On March 7th Corriere della Sera newspaper put
the government’s approval rating at just 39%, down from over 50% in
December. Another survey in Panorama, a magazine, suggested that the
centre-left would hold on to all but one region.
Mr Berlusconi’s response was characteristic. On March 9th he abruptly
turned victim, blaming his woes on opposition conspirators and left-
wing judges, and announcing “a big, national demonstration to defend
our right to vote.”

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Non solo THE ECONOMIST! Ormai tutto il mondo della libera stampa
chiama le cose col loro nome: quello che sta vivcendo l'Italia è un
regime goffo, laido, sporco e stronzo come il suo padrone!
AL CAFONE è il niome che va per la maggiore nelle chiacchiere con gli
italoamericani.
Qui su YouTube molti lo chiamano "il mago Pidiello" per come cerca di
stravolger la realtà e far credere ai suoi che le lucciole sono enormi
lanterne.
Ma in realtà è un vecchio sordido rattuso pericoloso EVERSORE: una
sangusuga, un pidocchio succhiatore, una jena ridens di cui dobbiamo
liberarci alla svelta.