Do Italians really want this guy full-time? The comment, as so many remarks from world leaders do, came in a phone conversation with an exotic dancer. It was, naturally, part of a phone tap on cocaine dealer Giampaolo Tarantini, who is also an alleged procurer of women for Berlusconi. The prime minister also remarked to Tarantini, by the way, that while there were eleven women lined up to enjoy the pleasure of his company on New Year’s 1999, “I had only eight of them because I couldn’t manage more.” So sure, you could look at these latest remarks and say that Berlusconi is appallingly chauvinistic, unserious, and spitting on the serious task of managing a troubled nation-state. Or you could say he’s all about time-management. [NYP]
