Other People's Politics: Italy's PM can joke about his 33% approval rating.

Here is Silvio Berluconi's ad from his last campaign:







And here is an excerpt from an actual speech the man who has been Italy's Prime Minister for 17 years gave recently:

“Did you hear the latest poll? They asked women between twenty and thirty years old if they want to make love to Berlusconi. Thirty-three per cent said yes! Sixty-seven per cent said ‘Again?’ ”

Again, that's not a joke making the rounds in Italy; that's from an actual speech the prime minister gave, the presumed topic of which was removing immigrants from an Italian island. (Also, the joke may be on Silvio; if you hit the inflection right on the last line, you can make it sound like the women would rather do anything but.)

Silvio is currently on trial for (allegedly!) having sex with an underage girl who may be a belly dancer but also may be a prostitute, and unlike American politicians, Silvio is meeting these allegations head-on, almost: He's not admitting the sex, but does admit giving her tens of thousands of whatever it is Italy uses for money. But it was for beauty parlor equipment:

Berlusconi, 74, told reporters Monday that he suspected that Mahroug might turn to prostitution to make money otherwise. So he offered her 45,000 euros to start her business -- but she demanded 60,000 euros instead. That's the equivalent of about $87,000. "I gave this money so she could avoid any need ... to prostitute herself and to bring her instead in the opposite direction," he said.

(Source.) Which proves it's cheaper in Italy; in the U.S., it might cost you as much as $925,000 in "furniture" to (try to) keep your affair a secret, although if you're bargain hunting, you could try Arizona, where $96,000 will buy you someone else's wife.

Silvio's ads touting his campaign are a far cry from our own dry campaign ads; there's no "I'm Silvio Berlusconi and I approved this message," for one thing -- although I imagine he did heartily approve of the ad:



And instead of that mandated disclosure, there is the repeated chorus, which translates to "President, we are with you/Thank God there's Silvio."