Berlusconi Attack Shows Anger, Security Lapse

(Dec. 14) -- A nation's colorful, controversial leader is bloodied by an attacker while working a crowd at a campaign rally. He's hospitalized with a broken nose, two broken teeth and a split lip. The suspect, who reportedly has mental problems, is jailed.

That's what happened to Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in his hometown of Milan on Sunday night. Images of his battered face are all over the news in Europe. In the U.S., it's little more than a secondary story. But imagine the reaction if it had happened here and the victim had been not the Italian premier but the president of the United States.

Getting bashed in the face with a souvenir replica of a cathedral is a different matter than having a couple of social climbers slip into your State Dinner uninvited, but the attack on Berlusconi was another dramatic example of a security breakdown at the highest level.

"Let's hope the Secret Service is a lot more effective protecting President Obama. This is scary stuff, and with the political climate the way it is lately ... a lot of us worry more now than we ever have," said a blogger who writes for The Political Carnival under the name GottaLaff.

The political climate in Italy has grown increasingly hostile toward the conservative media mogul who's frequently been a lightning rod during his 15 years in politics. This isn't even the first time the prime minister has been physically assaulted at a political rally. A bricklayer from northern Italy hit him with a camera in Rome on New Year's Eve 2004. The attacker reportedly told police he did it because he hated Berlusconi.

"There has been such a buildup of hatred toward the premier," Berlusconi spokesman Paolo Buonaiuti told CNN on Sunday. "This campaign of hatred has been building quite rapidly recently, and I am not surprised that what happened tonight took place."

In a sign of the social-networking times, a Facebook fan page for suspect Massimo Tartaglia is pulling in supporters from all over the world, according to Examiner.com. Britain's Independent reported there was a security alert in October because of a "Let's Kill Berlusconi" Facebook group that had nearly 20,000 members.

In the U.S., the conservative blog Gateway Pundit's headline brands Tartaglia a "Crazed & Violent Leftist" -- then includes an update saying police "have not yet identified" the suspect as a leftist. Among left-wing bloggers, The Reaction's Michael J.W. Stickings blasts Berlusconi as a "corrupt oligarch" and suggests that he deserved a smack in the face.

The 73-year-old prime minister is under siege politically and personally. He's accused of fooling around with younger women and is in the middle of a messy divorce from his second wife. He faces tax fraud charges and is even been accused of having ties to the Mafia. Tens of thousands marched in Rome a week ago to demand his resignation. Although his popularity is dropping, Berlusconi -- now serving his third term -- still has a conservative coalition that controls the legislature.

Berlusconi's situation is quite different from President Obama's. But the assault on the prime minister is a reminder for all of what can happen when protection for a leader breaks down in a climate of rising political hostility.