Silvio Berlusconi has been accused of bribery, tax evasion, corruption and subversion of the press. His wife has left him on the grounds that he consorts with prostitutes and holds orgies at his villa in Sardinia. He makes embarrassing jokes (and then repeats them, as he did with the one about President Obama’s “suntan”) and periodically disappears to undergo more plastic surgery. He is at war with the Italian legal establishment, with almost all of the journalists who don’t work for him, and with the Catholic Church. Last week the Italian constitutional court lifted his immunity from prosecution, which means Italians can look forward to a whole new series of lawsuits and scandals.
Yet by far the most interesting thing about the Italian prime minister is this: Italians keep voting for him.
via Anne Applebaum – Scandals Don’t Dampen Berlusconi’s Appeal in Italy – washingtonpost.com.