/bad Elvis impression
Posted on 04/09/2008 7:56:37 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter
Women on the political right are the best looking, conservative opposition leader and election frontrunner Silvio Berlusconi said on an Italian radio show.
"The women of the right are certainly the most beautiful," Berlusconi said on Radio Anch'io public radio, quoted Wednesday by Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Media tycoon Berlusconi is known for his 'politically incorrect' comments concerning women. He has described TV showgirls as "useful for something else," and has referred to older women politicians as the "menopause section".
Referring to Daniela Santanche, leader of Italy's nationalist La Destra party, Berlusconi was quoted as saying: "Whoever votes for Santanche because she's a knock-out is giving their vote to someone who certainly isn't - Walter Veltroni."
Veltroni, the former mayor of Rome, is the leader of the centre-right Democratic Party - Berlusconi's main opponent in Sunday and and Monday's parliamentary elections.
"Berlusconi may only be joining. But jokes, especially when they show a repeated and denigrating conception of women, reveal a lot about the person making them," commented Italy's youth and sports minister Giovanna Melandri, cited by Corriere della Sera.
Berlusconi last month famously told a young woman who asked him what could be done about a lack of job security in Italy: "Marry my son or someone like him - with your smile this certainly won't be a problem!"
Berlusconi's comments, made on the public TV show 'Viewpoints', caused widespread outrage in Italy, especially among the centre-left and the left.
In January last year, Berlusconi was forced to issue a written apology to his wife, Veronica Lario, after she wrote an open letter to leftwing daily La Repubblica demanding he do so for his flirtations with other women.
Lario was reacting to comments that Berlusconi reportedly made during a VIP party after a TV awards show screened by one of his private Mediaset channels.
"If I weren't married, I would marry you immediately," the 70-year-old Berlusconi told one woman, according to comments widely reported in the Italian press.
"With you, I'd go anywhere," Berlusconi reportedly told another woman at the party.
Berlusconi has a close political association with striking 40-year-old redhead and ex-beauty queen Michela Vittoria Brambilla. She has been tipped by some observers as his successor to the lead the People of Freedom party.
/bad Elvis impression
Oh my god. I’m stealing that.
Feel free. Enjoy, I’m pretty proud of that one.
Si.
I know it’s been a bit, but I just wanted to say again, I was not trying to be sexist or anything, just saying that just because her skirt slid up a bit, doesn’t mean she is a hussy or lacking in class. She is obviously an EXTREMELY accomplished woman, and she plays that to her advantage, by choosing oufits that make men drool.
Sex is very much a part of politics, as it is a part of all spectra of life. Think about the last time a truly UGLY person was elected president. We ain’t had one since the advent of the television. We haven’t even had a person with a beard get elected in the last 100 years (is that the next democratic candidate, a bearded lady?). Just think about this next election, if Hillary looked like this woman, she would have this election in the bag, Obama wouldn’t even have run, and McCain would be done by June. She would run away with the election. It’s just a fact of life.
But hey, she breaks as many stereotypes as she perpetuates.
I dunno, Puccini and Verdi don’t really strike me as “set the mood” type music. At least I don’t think it is, considering I’ll have to hit Wikipedia to look them up now.
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