(Image Source: RTE)

 

BY GARY COTTON
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
 
With his approval rating at an all time low, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is suggesting a new name for his party. The Huffington Post reports...
 
“...the scandal-inflicted Italian prime minister joked on Thursday that his party should change its name from 'Go Italy' to 'Go Pussy!'”
 
That was translated of course, he actually suggested the name “Forza Gnocca” in Italian while talking to his aides. Don’t get it? The Telegraph explains...
 
“The Italian word he used was ‘gnocca’, the meaning of which can range from ‘babe’ or ‘crumpet’ to the female genitalia.”
 
So just a case of Silvio being Silvio? A writer for The Guardian says the vulgar joke had a couple of politicians chuckling.
 
...a Berlusconi MP called the quip ‘splendid’, adding ‘it means he considers us protagonists’.
 
A Sexis blogger was laughing too, saying, after all of Berlusconi’s scandals, why not make a sex joke?
 
“...you’re popularity is at an all time low, you are simultaneously a defendant in three different trials and the media has recently reported that you did people favors in return for hookers. What do you do? Make a pussy joke. At this point, why not, ya know?”
 
But a writer for Hindustan Times points out not everyone is laughing.
 
“Berlusconi's jokes -- often vulgar and misogynistic --  have provoked the ire of feminists, anti-racism campaigners and the Catholic Church...Even a deputy from Berlusconi's own party, Barbara Saltamartini, said the prime minister's joke was "inappropriate and not funny’.”
 
Finally, a writer for Big Pond News quotes a member of the left-wing Democratic Party, who says Berlusconi’s comments reflect on his character more than his sense of humor.
 
“'What I find terrible is that Berlusconi's latest remark is not at all a quip but expresses his real feelings about women, the feelings of an old pig.'"
 
Reuters reports Berlusconi says he considers the calls for his resignation quote “absurd.”
 
Transcript by Newsy.

Politics News: Berlusconi Party Name

Berlusconi Under Fire for Vulgar Party Name Suggestion

October 7, 2011
(1:50)
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi joked about addressing low approval ratings with a raunchy new name for his political party.
   
TRANSCRIPT

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