As a political defence goes, it has the merit of being irrefutable: "I'm no saint," said Silvio Berlusconi, Italian prime minister, in response to an ongoing scandal around the release of tapes purporting to capture him having sex with a prostitute.
While Mr Berlusconi is, in the words of one opposition leader, trapped in his own reality TV show, the affair needn't stop him from continuing to serve as PM.
Plenty of reasons have been cited for his apparent immunity: the scandal burnishes the macho credentials that appeal to some of his supporters; Italy is used to corruption; enough voters prefer stability and brazenness under Mr Berlusconi to instability and hypocrisy under past premiers.
Besides, Mr Berlusconi has weathered scandals that include allegations far more sinister than cavorting with call girls.
While it is true that Italian politics has its own peculiar dynamics, cultural exceptionalism does not excuse rotten government. The real scandal is the way the story has been suppressed.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/26/editorial-silvio-berlusconi-eu-scandals
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