Tears and hysteria in Berlusconi messages
Source: Agencies |
March 17, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HYSTERICAL and tearful messages from Italians imploring Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to persevere after being attacked last year fill a book hitting the stores as campaigning for regional elections steps up.
Published by the Mondadori company that Berlusconi owns, "Love always wins over envy and hatred" collates some of the 50,000 messages of support that poured in after a mentally unstable man smashed a small statue into the premier's face at a rally in December.
Berlusconi, who has been embroiled in sex scandals and a fight with the judiciary, saw his popularity rise after the attack. But corruption scandals and bungling over ballot lists for regional polls prompted a recent slide in ratings.
The messages run the gamut from defiant - "Show them you're indestructible!" - to desperate and sentimental - "We beg you, don't abandon us and do clone yourself if you can" - to the hysterical.
"On seeing you covered in blood, my wife grabbed her hair and sobbed as she yelled 'My Madonna, save Silvio!'" wrote Carlo F. "Prime Minister, we're at the edge of a precipice: only you can save us and guarantee a future to our grandchildren."
In another, "Grandma Norina" called on Berlusconi's deceased mother for help: "Your mamma in the heavens will protect you and give you the strength and serenity to continue your job."
Others wrote to say they wept, that "I'm hurt like as if my father had been hit" and "Without you I'd leave Italy."
With the book in stores just as Berlusconi tries to rally voters ahead of the March 28-29 vote, the left-leaning newspaper La Repubblica dismissed it as an election gimmick.
Published by the Mondadori company that Berlusconi owns, "Love always wins over envy and hatred" collates some of the 50,000 messages of support that poured in after a mentally unstable man smashed a small statue into the premier's face at a rally in December.
Berlusconi, who has been embroiled in sex scandals and a fight with the judiciary, saw his popularity rise after the attack. But corruption scandals and bungling over ballot lists for regional polls prompted a recent slide in ratings.
The messages run the gamut from defiant - "Show them you're indestructible!" - to desperate and sentimental - "We beg you, don't abandon us and do clone yourself if you can" - to the hysterical.
"On seeing you covered in blood, my wife grabbed her hair and sobbed as she yelled 'My Madonna, save Silvio!'" wrote Carlo F. "Prime Minister, we're at the edge of a precipice: only you can save us and guarantee a future to our grandchildren."
In another, "Grandma Norina" called on Berlusconi's deceased mother for help: "Your mamma in the heavens will protect you and give you the strength and serenity to continue your job."
Others wrote to say they wept, that "I'm hurt like as if my father had been hit" and "Without you I'd leave Italy."
With the book in stores just as Berlusconi tries to rally voters ahead of the March 28-29 vote, the left-leaning newspaper La Repubblica dismissed it as an election gimmick.
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