Did you hear the one about the Italian Prime Minister ...?
July 04, 2003 ~ 1:48 p.m.
Sometimes the news brings a real smile to my face like nothing else can, save the occasional joint.
If you thought the fallout from the Cuba-EU spat was amusing, this is even better. Having told Cuba off, the EU is turning on itself.
Italy�s European Union presidency, in effect for the next six months, is off to a rocky start.
After being hassled on the floor of the European Parliament by left-wing and Green ministers about being unfit for the leadership of the EU, Berlusconi responded, �You are just democracy tourists. If you come to Italy and actually listen and watch you will see that the Italian media are independent.�
A German minister, Martin Schulz, treated him to a slanderous accusation that Italy�s Minister for Constitutional Reform suggested to him that illegal immigrants should be shot.
This was Berlusconi�s witty retort:
�Mr. Schulz, I know there is a producer in Italy who is making a film on the Nazi concentration camps. I will suggest you for the role of kapo [concentration camp officer]. You�d be perfect.�
The EU Parliament�s Irish Speaker told Berlusconi to withdraw the offense-causing remark, but the Italian Prime Minister refused. The Left engaged a cacophony of wailing loud enough to lift the roof off every building in Strasbourg.
Typical. The Left can dish it out, but it cannot take it. Signor Berlusconi, that was a beautiful retort. Don�t you ever change.
I�m not saying it wasn�t severely impolitic. I don�t wish to suggest that Gerhard Schroeder wasn�t well within his right to demand an apology. Certainly it is true that this incident could throw the EU into disarray. (Forgive this American, especially on the day of his nation�s 227th birthday, for smirking.) Anything to throw roadblocks at that stupid European �constitution.�
What I am saying is that these clowns in the European Union Parliament need to take themselves a little less seriously. The problem is not Berlusconi; it is the inability of others to deal with the Italian PM�s bombastic humor.
Go Berlusconi, go!
� M.E.M.
|
[Sign My Guestbook]
[View My Guestbook]
|
Copyright � 2001-2007 by M.E. Manning. All material is written by me, unless explicitly stated otherwise by use of footnotes or bylines. Do not copy or redistribute without my permission.
AMERICA FOR TRUE AMERICANS!