Posted on 04/15/2008 3:55:32 PM PDT by Lorianne
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...
If he was an anti-Busher, you'd be hearing about it for 5 days. Softballer Chrissie Mathews would be grinning from ear to ear.
As if you will? If you do they’ll say something like “The Italian government hasn’t been this unified since Benito “Il Duce” Mussolini was in power.”
Mark my words.
Great news. Commies finally out. Happy days!
Funny the way this happens. Italy and France are coming over to the side of freedom, but England has gone over to the dark side, and so has Australia to a degree. And the US is likely to be next, unless we get some sort of miracle between now and November.
“Haven’t heard very much about this on the MSM.”
You absolutely will not, since this is a stunning victory for freedom and democracy loving Italians over the left. No more communists or greens. Zero. Nada. Finito. Buh Bye. Ciao!
The toilet has been flushed in Italy.
I remember as a child political junkie, how the communists were close to dominating the Italian Parliament.
Berlusconi shamelessly loves Bush and the USA.
You wouldn’t believe the NY Times take on this. The Times is in angry mourning, sounding like Obama denouncing the fly-over country sub-humans he so despises.
I absolutely LOVE all this!
Good news for Italy. Although I’ve read Berlusconi has deep mafia ties. Maybe that’s just a smear?
My family comes from the Campania region of Southern Italy, a place with extraordinary scenery, weather, history, art, and architecture. It is also a place whose social and economic progress has been stifled for centuries by a criminal subculture known as the Camorra. Until Berlusconi deals with this with more than empty hot air, I will remain unimpressed with him. The sad fact is that Berlusconi’s party is tarnished with many of the same unseemly associations that brought down Giulio Andreotti and the Christian Democrats.
Everbody is getting tired of the muzzies and communists. I hope we can do the same!
Good news.
I’m not wild about the guy to put it mildly (he is kinda scummy), but find great cause for celebration (aside from the fact that his main opposition was worse). Happy days - the complete rejection of Greens and Communists. The Italian center-left deserves some credit for marginalizing these far-left extremist groups (basically ejecting them from the left coalition). If Veltroni or whoever it is reclaims power in a subsequent election, the Partito Democratico will be far less dangerous.
A European nation without representation by Greens or Communists. Tis a beautiful thing.
Funny indeed.
Next thing you know, the French might start blasting Somali pirates to Kingdom Come or something.
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