PM compares himself to Jesus
2006-02-12 21:59
Rome - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Sunday marked the first full day of campaigning for the forthcoming general election with a barrage of insults against his opponents and a comparison of himself with Jesus Christ.
The day before, he had suggested that, after five years in office, he had a record bettered only by Napoleon.
"I am the Jesus Christ of politics, a patient victim who bears everything, who sacrifices himself for all " he told a meeting in Ancona in the east of the country.
Berlusconi faces a strong challenge from the centre-left led by former European Commission President Romano Prodi in the vote on April 9 and 10.
He jeered at his rival, suggesting Prodi had asked in vain the genie of Aladdin's lamp to make him clever, and mocked the physical appearance of another leftwing leader.
Although opinion polls show him losing, Berlusconi quoted an unidentified US institute as assuring him of victory.
His opponents tried to hit back.
One prominent leftwinger said: "According to sources who asked not be identified, the father of Jesus did not much like the comparison with his son."
Another wondered whether "taking the name of the Lord in vain" was not as bad as the 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published in Denmark that have sparked uproar in the Muslim world.
A third said that friendly pollsters in Papua New Guinea gave the centre-left a 20-point lead on Berlusconi's House of Freedoms ruling alliance.
- AFP