Silvio Berlusconi's ratings hit record low

[Jmaxfie1]

Source: The Telegraph

Silvio Berlusconi's ratings have hit a new record low of 33 percent in the fallout of a series of sex and corruption scandals.

The same poll by Italy's IPR Marketing institute, which was carried out for centre-left daily La Repubblica, gave Mr Berlusconi 40 percent in January.

Shortly after being re-elected in 2008, his rating was at 60 percent.

Mr Berlusconi, 74, has been hit in the ratings by a series of scandals and faces trial next month on charges of having sex with an underage prostitute and then using his status to try and cover up the alleged crime. He denies the charges

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/silvio-berlusconi/8386126/Silvio-Berlusconis-ratings-hit-record-low.html

[DCKit]

1. Finally, a poll you can almost believe. nt

[VWolf]

2. I doubt he care, to be quite honest. n/t

[pampango]

3. Silvio will probably turn to anti-immigrant hysteria. It's what RWers do in Europe

and elsewhere.

http://newamericamedia.org/2011/02/new-migrants-flock-to-italy-intensifying-immigration-debate.php

Italy’s Tea Party

Speaking in Brussels on Feb. 23 at the start of a two-day meeting on the refugee crisis, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Italy “cannot be left” to handle the exodus. But ministers from other countries accused him and other Italians of fear-mongering, and indeed, Maroni’s concerns about immigration are nothing new.

Maroni is one of the most influential people in the Northern League, Italy’s third-largest party, whose tough-on-immigration position—rooted in the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment in Northern Italy—have led some to equate it with the Tea Party in the United States. Of the 4.5 million immigrants registered with Italy’s National Institute of Statistics, more than 2.5 million live in the north.

Maroni is also one of the closest allies of beleaguered Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who goes on trial in April on charges of paying an underage prostitute—ironically, an immigrant from Morocco— for sex and then using his influence to cover up his alleged crime. The Northern League’s backing has been key to Berlusconi’s remaining in power, despite his many legal problems.

Berlusconi’s opposition to immigrants goes back many years. During his previous government, in 2001, Italy passed the so-called Bossi-Fini law, a tough policy that imposed annual quotas on the number of foreign workers and only allowed immigrants with existing job contracts to obtain residency permits. In 2008, Berlusconi won re-election for a fourth time as Italy’s leader thanks largely to his campaign against immigrants, which was echoed and amplified by the many media outlets that he controls.

Whip up the " 'us' workers vs. 'them' workers" sentiment, then ride it to power. A staple of right wing politics in Europe and elsewhere.

[kirby]

4. Geez, what does he need to do to reach 20%?

Kill someone?

[conspirator]

5. fascists don't care about ratings nt

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. 33 is still an incredibly high number. WTF??!! nt