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Months into La Repubblica's war of attrition against Silvio Berlusconi, the premier's once indestructible mask of eternal joie de vivre is beginning to show some cracks. The latest blow – the publication of audio recordings made by top-range call-girl Patrizia D'Addarioduring her alleged encounter with the Italian PM – has been painful : approval ratings have dropped, Christian commentators have cast their eyes heavenwards and the foreign press is ranting, with Daniel Finkelstein of the London Times comparing his sins to those of Chairman Mao. The Cavaliere has since opted for a change in strategy, dropping indefensible pleas of innocence and confessing "I am no saint, you all understood that". This accompanied by a wink and a grin from his seemingly inexhaustible supply of cheerful facial expressions.
Few are amused, however. "The man is naked - and the Prime-Minister too", chastizes Il Manifesto columnist Ida Dominijanni, who laughs at Russian daily Pravda rushing to the defence of Vladimir Putin's friend with epithets such as a "true man" and "gentle knight". "For Berlusconi, an image slip is a political one, because for him politics is image. He has turned democracy into a reality show and citizenship into an audience. Now that this circle is broken things will never come back again", she concludes.
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