Really, that’s what these people are saying:
“An Italian hasn’t won the Nobel Peace Prize since 1907,†said Giammario Battaglia, a 36-year-old lawyer who helped start the initiative a few months ago. “We think it’s a good moment.â€
He appears to be serious.
The group contends that Mr. Berlusconi, operating behind the scenes and using his close friendship with Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, helped end the conflict between Russia and Georgia last summer. “He saved human lives,†Mr. Battaglia said.
Let’s be clear. If I ever meet Silvio Berlusconi, I – Mark Blacknell – will slap him like his mother apparently didn’t when he was a child. This man is a clown of the lowest order. One that Italy, in its seemingly perpetual commitment to governance as envisioned by a 14 year old, has decided to make Prime Minister. Multiple times. Seriously, these people conquered the rest of of Europe?
Plin
You have got to be kidding me. He is such a joke (and a very bad, unfunny one at that)–I cannot even conceive of wanting to give him a prize that isn’t some sort of raspberry.
My fondest hope is that he’ll finally qualify for a Darwin Award, frankly.
I don’t know anyone in Italy who takes the man seriously, or who isn’t deeply ashamed that he’s “running” the country. It’s widely accepted that his entire political career was constructed to keep his ass out of prison for all his shady business dealings across Europe.
Then again, Bologna isn’t exactly his geographical target. I’ll quit here before I make some terribly offensive generalization about the Romans and the Milanese.
Nikhil Verma
What’s wrong with Berlusconi? He parties with other women and cheats on his wife. In the grandest tradition of politics.
Genevieve
“will slap him like his mother apparently didn’t when he was a child”
Or perhaps like his mother did one too many times…
Plin
I don’t care about his personal life, but I do care when his idiocy and self-serving decision making cause serious damage to a country that needs leadership more than it needs buffoonery. They can find plenty of the latter on Berlusconi’s TV channels.