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| Europe |
| Ledeen: Italy: It's a landslide |
| 2008-04-15 |
| Huge, perhaps historic, victory for Berlusconi's "Popolo della liberta' " (which translates a bit awkwardly as "the people of liberty;" maybe it's better to call it "the freedom folks"). It's considerably worse than AP lets on. Berlusconi defeated Walter Veltroni's "Democratic Party" by a full 9 points in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. And since the Italian electoral system gives a bonus to the winning side, the margins are very big and stable: 340 to 241 in the Chamber (with another 36 for a couple of small parties), and 167 to 137 in the Senate (with 5 to three little parties), which was expected to be a photo finish. Eighty percent voted, down about three percent from last time. The big news is that the Communists are gone, for the first time since the end of the Second World War. Really gone. They didn't win a single seat in either chamber. A lot of famous faces will vanish from Parliament, and it is even possible, although unlikely, that some of the comrades will be forced to join the working class. The Greens are also gone. In fact, there are only six parties in the new Parliament, suggesting that Italy's well on the road to a two-party political system instead of the dreadful proportional electoral model that has destroyed virtually every country where it's been applied. If that happens, a lot of the credit goes to Veltroni, who created a real center-left party and refused to admit the old Left. Tomorrow's papers will pretend that this didn't happen, and warn that Berlusconi's allies in the Northern League are mercurial and dangerous, and that his majority isn't as stable as it looks. But it is. And there's an even more annoying feature to these elections, as seen by the chattering classes: Berlusconi is an outspoken, even passionate admirer of George W. Bush and the United States of America. Reminds one of the elections that brought Sarkozy to the Elysee, doesn't it? Best to keep that quiet, or somebody might notice that hatred of America doesn't seem to affect the voters in Italy, France or Germany. It's too soon to start talking about the ministers-to-be, but it will all get sorted out very quickly. At least Italy won't have to suffer with the likes of Massimo D'Alema any more. He's the former prime minister and recent foreign minister who proudly announced that major part of his time was devoted to protecting Iran from American pressure. He'll now spend more time on his proletarian yacht, usually based in Croatia... |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #18 Conquer the Brits and tax their tea. I nominate JFM for "Snark of the Day". |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-04-15 20:16 |
| #17 I heard the Communists sat this one out. I don't know--I've never figured out Italian politics. |
| Posted by: James 2008-04-15 20:11 |
| #16 Brownistan didn't have an election, Blair handed power to the Rocking horse riding poof. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2008-04-15 14:37 |
| #15 #3, Sorry. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-04-15 14:07 |
| #14 Commies and Greens - hell must have froze over. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-04-15 13:23 |
| #13 Not to worry I think the U.S. will vote in some Greens/Commies (we call them Democrats). |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2008-04-15 12:59 |
| #12 "...hatred of America doesn't seem to affect the voters in Italy, France or Germany" True. The average Johnny Euro may spout off about perceived and usually nonsensical failings of America, and even seem to hate the US but, like most such nationalistic scorn, it's based on envy. Many English, for instance, will obsess over the inferiority of the Yanks in exactly the same way that many Scots obssess over the English. It's a compliment,, although not one the individual would ever want to recognise as such. Therefore it's fairly easy for a self-proclaimed anti-American (as well as the generally more adult pro-Americans) to vote for a pro-American politician - the politician is acknowledging a reality they'd prefer not to. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2008-04-15 12:48 |
| #11 The Commies are out? Betcha Jimmy Carter wouldn't have sactioned that election. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-04-15 12:35 |
| #10 Okay, so France, Germany and Italy now have somewhat pro-American leaders. Now we just need to get the Brits onboard again. Don't forget. Canada has come around too. So much for alienating the world. We have more friendly administrations in western governments now than we did in 2001. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2008-04-15 12:25 |
| #9 Since a great many of them apparently don't know the United States were once part of their empire, that's an interesting thought, JFM. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-04-15 12:13 |
| #8 Conquer the Brits and tax their tea. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-04-15 12:10 |
| #7 Okay, so France, Germany and Italy now have somewhat pro-American leaders. Now we just need to get the Brits onboard again. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-04-15 11:22 |
| #6 Free men? Make that Free persons of all gender, this is the 21st century. after all. My God, it even sounds good in PC speak. Welcome back, Italy. |
| Posted by: Jack Slineger4174 2008-04-15 11:06 |
| #5 Berlusconi is an outspoken, even passionate admirer of George W. Bush and the United States of America. Reminds one of the elections that brought Sarkozy to the Elysee, doesn't it? Best to keep that quiet, or somebody might notice that hatred of America doesn't seem to affect the voters in Italy, France or Germany Oh, those stupid commoners, clinging to their love of family, God, and guns, and their obvious hatred of foreigners with their foreign ways. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-04-15 10:54 |
| #4 Thankfully if Berlusconi becomes a killing word, noone can pronounce it right. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2008-04-15 10:48 |
| #3 I thought it was Fremen, with a single e. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-04-15 09:10 |
| #2 translates a bit awkwardly as "the people of liberty;" maybe it's better to call it "the freedom folks"). Maybe we should call them Freemen :-) |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-04-15 08:08 |
| #1 Instapundit notes that there are no Communists in the new parliament. Zero, zip, nada, goose egg. |
| Posted by: Mike 2008-04-15 06:40 |