Ma che bestia che sei!

Last week, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ruffled feathers by comparing himself to Napoleon. [He was listing his achievements while in office.] And now, Berlusconi just did some more ruffling by comparing himself to Christ.

His Napoleon remark caused some ironic comment and scornful remarks from opposition leaders, some of whom warned him that he might soon meet his Waterloo, the name of the decisive battle in which Napoleon was defeated by the British.

"No, I was just joking," Mr Berlusconi told his supporters at a dinner at Ancona on the Adriatic coast.

But then he went on to complain that he feels like what he called "the Jesus Christ of Italian politics".

"I'm a patient victim. I put up with everything. I sacrifice myself for everyone," he said.

Opposition politicians called Mr Berlusconi's comparison grotesque, although he was simply using popular speech.

In Italian, for example, you can refer to someone as a Povero Christo, or a poor Christ, without being accused of blasphemy.

Leave it to the Italians to be trendsetters, whether it be food, fashion, or political comparisons to hitorical figures/despots/tyrants/religious figures.

Because you know, Hitler comparisons are SO 2005. Seriously.