Italy Election Day

[Manuel I Komnenos]

Berlusconi seems to be considered a real threat judging from how European leaders such as Merkel deemed it necessary to refer to him and suggest the Italians continue the program that Monti began. Do we have a poll from Italy?

[Lord Thesaurian]

Berlusconi seems to be considered a real threat judging from how European leaders such as Merkel deemed it necessary to refer to him and suggest the Italians continue the program that Monti began. Do we have a poll from Italy?

Can't seem to find actual polls. Perhaps its too early. Here's a Reuter's article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8890AG20120910

Apparently Berlusconi, if he did actually run, would likely lose out to the Democratic Party, which has a commanding lead. Monti may not even run....

[Col. Tartleton]

Fair enough. You want us ruled by technocrats? Its not very fun though, is it?

Are technocrats bland bureaucrats who do their job correctly and ethically but fly below the radar for the most part?

Yeah, that'd be good. A meritocratic government generally makes more sense than a democratic one.

I'd be happier if we elected interface people. Like a press secretary or a secretary of state should be an elected official. You know, the face guy.



Jay Carney? Kind of a douche. He can't make me trust Obama. I want to, but he's making it worse.



Instead we the people should be hiring Sofia Vergara to be press secretary. I like her accent, it makes me happy. She's got a good smile, good hair, and some cannons.

Her job will be to memorize lines written by the technocrats, stand up in front the American people and answer questions. She'd be good at it, and I trust anyone over 18 to be able to make that kind of decision. I don't think I'm qualified to determine who the head of national security for 300 million people should be. Nor do I think that whatever fraction of 300 million people who vote will be qualified to do it. I think a special committee with a few dozen top experts would come to a better decision than millions of uninformed people.

Having a choice feels good, but actually having the right choice made is more important.

[Caesar Germanico]

Berlusconi seems to be considered a real threat judging from how European leaders such as Merkel deemed it necessary to refer to him and suggest the Italians continue the program that Monti began. Do we have a poll from Italy?

Berlusconi won't get over 15 %, he has very little support left considering that the potential of center-right politics in Italy is huge.The assessment of his political life in the last 20 years is also very negative.

http://www.termometropolitico.it/276...-primarie.html

This is an average of the various polls done in the last 2 weeks.I think they are realistic, the projections for the parliament are not though especially for the senate; indeed they are done arbitrarily and the polls have nothing to do with them.

[alhoon]

Can't seem to find actual polls. Perhaps its too early. Here's a Reuter's article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8890AG20120910

Apparently Berlusconi, if he did actually run, would likely lose out to the Democratic Party, which has a commanding lead. Monti may not even run....

That's an old poll though. About the other polls posted here, 15% is enough for him to have enough political pull to utilize his media empire and counless billions to remain out of jail, influence laws and screw 20 year old supermodels.

I think a special committee with a few dozen top experts would come to a better decision than millions of uninformed people.

Having a choice feels good, but actually having the right choice made is more important.

So... you're pro-oligarchy?

[eisenkopf]

Guys, cool down, Silvio is a finished man, mark my words. He is the shadow of himself now, thank to the gods.

In a single speech today he changed his mind 5 times about his return: he's senile, both physically and mentally, and he will end his political days with an humiliating, crushing defeat.

And his life in prison, hopefully.

The problem is not that he will be reelected (I seriously doubt that). The problem is that the moment he announced his (likely) candidature, he dominated all news discourse. Have you watched any Rai TG recently? It's all Silvio, Silvio, Silvio. Okay, I know, even Rai's standard of quality for news is terrible (nvm which Rai channel), but still - imagine what is happening on Berlusconi's network.

Berlusconi is able to sabotage any election, and he will be poisoning the well for any winner of next year's election.

Forza Italia? That would be nice. It's more likely to be Povera Italia!

[Diocle]

Berlusca changed his mind again: Now he said that he offers to Mario Monti the role of PM!!!

The man is changing his mind every three days, it's almost impossible to follow his stunts.....

Mario ing Monti in the polls is at '0'!!!! Believe me, this is the real reason why he is hesitating to run for the premiership, he is one of the most hated person in Italy today! If he runs and take something between the 3% and the 5% it is his whole politics that would been destroied....probably the man is more interested in becoming President, but to do this he needs the votes of Bersani of the left, and more the time goes less Bersani (who is almost sure about victory) will be prone to do favours to a meaningless man........I don't see a great furture for ing Mario.

Italy probably shouldn't be allowed to govern itself.

And who should govern Italy? Mr Obama? The man who gave the money of the Americans citizens to FIAT to buy the most failed car company on the planet Earth , and now he doesn't know how to explain to the Americans that the USA finally have their moronic Statal car factory, yes because FIAT will never pay back the money obtained by Mr. Obama the cunning.....please Colonel think about your country and the gigantic Public Dept of USA, it's better!

Yes because if Italy falls, probably UE falls with us (and for me this is very good!) but when USA will fall the problems will be for the whole planet!

Colonel, concentrate your superior thoughts, on USA, is more than enough for you, believe me.

[Babur]

Italy should just crown Berlusconi, Caesar

[Stavroforos]

The only difference is that he'll accept the crown every time it's offered, lol.

In any case, it seems as though Silvia has gotten himself a new female friend / MP for this campaign:

[Engie]

Bunga bunga is back!

[Lord Thesaurian]

Whelp, if Monti is looking for employment, I'm sure my school would love to hire a professor with his credentials..... I would take his class.

[Ikonoborcheskoi]

Surely the ship can be rescued though?

Italy deserves better than this guy

Not exactly, pal. I speak as an Italian, and I assure you: most of the Italians deserve him, for they are idiot enough to believe all the bull$#@* that he keeps saying since 20 years ago, for promising the very same things. It's easy to imagine that he has never kept his word so far. As I was saying, most of the population deserves him, for he is just the leader that they want: someone that fills their lives with soap-operas and trash news, that wants them to praise him just like they did with Mussolini (and it's no secret that Berlusca (as we call him) is a fascist), all the while being kept stupid and un-educated.
Italy definitely deserves better than this guy (which I will never vote: for reasons both political and of common sense), but the Italians? ... I don't really think so, pal.

[Claudius Gothicus]

The first problem every Technocrat will face is a more than scarce political legitimacy to exert effective authority... voters do not like technicians running their lives, they usually give their confidence to value-charged and promise-fuelled political projects.

Silvio has the financial resources and political value(promises, appeal, status, etc.) to concentrate a part of that voter confidence around his figure, the problem is that other segments of the voters pool hold all of his "political value" as a disvalue yet they do not seem to be under a powerful leadership.

[Kanaric]

Italy should just crown Berlusconi, Caesar

They should crown him Caligula

[King Gambrinus]

What would happen if Grillo's party won?

[Ikonoborcheskoi]

What would happen if Grillo's party won?

It can't be told. They don't have a political definition, they're comprised of everyone, regardless of what they believe, thus making difficult to know what would happen if they won. What is clear is that they are a major pain to politics, and they're perceived as a threat by the politicians.

[Lellolello98]

OMG
I'm 14 and i wouldn't vote for him even if he was the last politician on Earth. Who votes for him??

[Basil II the B.S]

OMG
I'm 14 and i wouldn't vote for him even if he was the last politician on Earth. Who votes for him??

Only idiots. But he's not going anywhere. His party is a sinking ship and righfully so. Too bad alternatives suck just as bad. I'm honestly considering voting Grillo. Let's face it, even though he's pretty much the new Mussolini, at least he'd destroy the current political class, and they deserve that. The he'll destroy the country as well because he's a total idiot and so are his supporters, but this country sucks anyways, we deserve to go down.

[King Gambrinus]

Only idiots. But he's not going anywhere. His party is a sinking ship and righfully so. Too bad alternatives suck just as bad. I'm honestly considering voting Grillo. Let's face it, even though he's pretty much the new Mussolini, at least he'd destroy the current political class, and they deserve that. The he'll destroy the country as well because he's a total idiot and so are his supporters, but this country sucks anyways, we deserve to go down.

I think this shows that you're not exactly in a position to pass judgement on such matters. Ridiculous claim. They are polar opposites.

[Basil II the B.S]

I think this shows that you're not exactly in a position to pass judgement on such matters. Ridiculous claim. They are polar opposites.

Two members of the party got booted recently for disagreeing with him. That's pretty much fascism to begin with.
Let's go further, now every member of the party must recognize him as supreme and undiscussed leader at the cost of, again, being booted. Again, fascism. The irony, considering that 1 year ago, the Mov5Star kept claiming they were not Grillo's party, but just a movement of people.

Bottom line, it's just another, retarded, populist movement with fascist traits.

And let's not mention the total rejection of free market policies in the name of pseudo-national-socialist ones. Anybody who studied history knows where this is going.