"No amount of wealth can make him young or handsome"

An excellent summary of Berlusconi's latest:

This time Silvio Berlusconi seems to have gone too far; last week he unleashed his pitbull courtiers in an attempt to gag the few remaining opposition media. But the autumn offensive got off to a bad start as the hounds and their master bit off more than they could chew. The Roman Catholic Church and a coalition of Italian and foreign papers are too much even for Mr Berlusconi’s overblown ego.

We are now being given an insight into the Italian Prime Minister’s personal and political weaknesses. The attack began when the parliamentary committee for broadcasting sought to change some of the senior managers of the public broadcaster RAI. It happens that they all work for programmes that are critical of Mr Berlusconi. This came a month after the Prime Minister had laid into a RAI journalist, saying that it was “intolerable that a public service broadcaster, paid for by the taxpayer, should criticise the Government”. This was said through clenched teeth and tensed jaw. The real and visible anger betrayed his lack of control.

The second salvo came when Niccolò Ghedini, Mr Berlusconi’s lawyer and first pitbull, said that they would be suing La Repubblica for libel. The newspaper has listed ten questions for Mr Berlusconi since June. Mr Ghedini argues that asking those questions is libellous and claims a million euros in damages. He has also said that they will sue foreign papers. This brought a shower of criticism from all quarters. Abroad, the reaction was between laughter and indignation; aren’t papers supposed to ask questions?

The other pack is led by Vittorio Feltri, editor of one of the Berlusconi family papers, Il Giornale. His strategy is to go for the man, not the ball. Mr Feltri got into serious hot water when he went for Dino Boffo, the editor of Avvenire, the paper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. For some weeks Avvenire has been criticising Mr Berlusconi’s lifestyle. Mr Feltri claimed that Mr Boffo had plea-bargained his way out of a harassment charge and had had a gay relationship, so should not be preaching about Mr Berlusconi’s sex life.

The effects were not what the Prime Minister wanted; after more than a month of patient diplomacy, his staff had negotiated a dinner with Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, to be held after a ceremony of forgiveness. Mr Berlusconi was to have been pardoned by the Church but the cardinal cancelled the dinner and the rift between the Government and the Church has become an abyss. [...]

Since returning to power last year, Mr Berlusconi has given himself immunity from criminal prosecution while in office and countered President Napolitano’s powers to check the constitutionality of Bills. The institutional opposition, like the courts and President, have been trussed like oven-ready capons and most of the media is directly or indirectly controlled by the Prime Minister. If anyone dares to squeak, they are threatened directly. [...]

The minors and the prostitutes have cracked the image but, if he falls, it will be because no amount of spin can disguise his economic mismanagement. The unemployment and hardship that Italians are likely to face this autumn, for which he is largely responsible, will be the reality check that counts.