July 05, 2003
SILVIO BERLUSCONI UPDATE....Henry Farrell points us to the latest chapter in the Silvio Berlusconi farce today.
The Germans say Berlusconi apologized (privately), Berlusconi says he
didn't. In fact, not only didn't he apologize, he said, but he was the aggrieved party.
Then, in an effort to ensure that he looks as ridiculous as humanly
possible in this little spat, he recast his suggestion that MEP Martin
Schulz would make a good Nazi with a suggestion that he would make a good sitcom Nazi: "His
way of going on and the tone of his voice reminded me of the television
character Sgt Schulz of Hogan's Heroes, the series in which Sgt Schulz
shouted and ranted a lot but in the end turned out to be kind-hearted,"
said Mr Berlusconi.
I'm not sure which is worse, the
fact that Berlusconi compared the real Schulz to a fictional Schulz or
the fact that the prime minister of Italy is familiar with Hogan's Heroes.
Posted by Kevin Drum at July 5, 2003 09:39 AM
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Well, I guess its less embarrassing than being familiar with Bob Crane's other work.
Perhaps he's carried the reruns on one of his networks.
I always figured it was OK to enoy Hogan's Heroes (and I do) because
at least one of the actors was a Holocaust survivor, and also the (funny
funny funny funny) actor who played Colonel Klink was the son of a
great orchestral conductor. I've got a lot to be ashamed of, but this
isn't one of them
Berlusconi has a background in the entertainment field. He used to be something of a crooner. That was before he was rich.
Er, doesn't our President identify with the millionaire on Gilligan?
You know, there's a couple of good ideas lurking about here. We could
send Berlusconi to the Russian Front, and we could strand Bush on a
deserted island with no way to communicate to the world.
You know, just thinking about this makes me feel better!
It is curious, since Berlusconi was thinking of Hogan's Heroes, as he
tells us, that he instead linked the MEP to a new Holocaust film in the
making, and he did it in the same actual sentence. One might even
conclude that the HH explanation is outrageous bulls**t his handlers
came up with as this span out of control, rather in the GWB mold. I know
I have.
The key differences between HH and a Holocaust film, of course, are that
the former is a comedy, and about a POW CAMP. The ovens are missing.
Anyone who wantws to is welcome to believe this crap. Welcome to
revisionism, and expect it to play in Italy's Berlusconi-owned media.
The cost of democracy is watchfulness, and this is a fair example, like
the WMD.
Hogan's heroes was still popular in Germany a few years ago. I believe they were even making new episodes.
I understand it became Werner Klemperer's mission in life - to ensure that Nazis continued to be a joke.
>Er, doesn't our President identify with the millionaire on Gilligan?
Well I doubt if he identifies with the professor . . .
Yeah, I remember reading that they´d dubbed hogan´s heroes and it was
quite popular...they´d also changed quite a bit of the dialogue when
they dubbed it, inventing an off-screen character that colonel klink was
always talking about or something..
Shame of Italy. Mr Gaffes ....
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