We often complain in this country -- with justification -- that no matter what stupid stuff a Republican says they'll get away with it.
Well, if you also own the media directly, like Silvio Berlusconi, it is exponentially worse...not only can you be a crook and a philanderer,
you can survive even this:
Italy’s gaffe-prone former premier Silvio Berlusconi sparked outrage
Sunday with remarks praising wartime dictator Benito Mussolini despite
Il Duce’s persecution of Jews and allowing thousands to be deported to
Auschwitz.
“The racial laws were the worst mistake of a leader, Mussolini, who
however did good things in so many other areas,” Berlusconi, who is
angling for a return to politics in elections next month, said on the
sidelines of a ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day in Milan.
Mussolini, of course, after some initial resistance eventually allow the deportation of around 7,500 Italian Jews to the death camps.
Sure he wasn't worse than Hitler, he just chose to ally himself with him.
Sort of like saying, other than a few crimes and getting other people to murder for him, Charles Manson is rather entertaining.