The Valentino Rossi Influence In Italy
Thursday, May 18th, 2006 at 8:43 pm by angrybob
I read about this in the latest issue of Roadracing World last night and found it rather interesting. I don’t know much about Italy, let alone it politics. I do know they make great cars and motorcycles and produce some of the greatest racers ever. I knew Rossi was popular, but his influence is greater than I imagined. Check it out from the Guardian:
Barbara McMahon in Rome
Tuesday March 28, 2006
The Guardian
Italians are being wooed by their flamboyant prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is mailing a glossy magazine detailing his government’s achievements to millions of households this week.
The 160-page publication, called The Real Italian Story, is crammed with flattering facts and photographs of the 69-year-old billionaire, proclaiming his five-year term of office a success story.
Throwing modesty to the wind, it portrays the permatanned premier as an important world leader, standing alongside the likes of US president George Bush, Russian president Vladimir Putin, and Tony Blair.
He is also shown hugging famous acquaintances such as rock star Bono and the motorcycling champion Valentino Rossi, as well as paying respectful homage to the late Pope John Paul II.The media magnate has spared no expense in producing the magazine, which he hopes will win over undecided voters ahead of a general election on April 9-10. It is being sent to 11m households.
Mr Berlusconi took a similar initiative in 2001, sending a 125-page biography of himself to voters, after which he conquered the polls and swept to power. This time he is trailing behind the centre-left challenger Romano Prodi, according to most opinion polls.
“The ego has landed - again,” remarked one political commentator in the daily newspaper La Stampa.
Mr Berlusconi courted further controversy yesterday when he declared: “We don’t want Italy to become a multiethnic, multicultural country. We are proud of our traditions.”
This Prime Minister sounds like a moron. “Lookat how cool I am” hanging with celebs. Rossi was quoted as saying that he was unaware that the photo was in the ad/magazine and said that they only met once. Funny.
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What’s funnier is that Berlusconi believes the average Italian voter is stupid enough to buy into the fact that he is “best friends” with Rossi (or anyone else in his photos). This is what’s called PROPAGANDA, plain and simple. This guy is a megalomaniac like one of his predessors: Mussolini. Isolation, now there a philosophy that’s worked well in the past! Hopefully, the vast majority of the Italian people will see through this ruse and throw the bum out!
Rhino