Grillo: Bersani is a "dead man talking...pestering us with indecent proposals"

Right. So much for an instant Bersani-Grillo love affair (note instant). This is hilarious: 

As expected, Pier Luigi Bersani and his centre-left coalition have tried to reach out to Beppe Grillo. But Bersani didn't quite obtain the reaction he was hoping for.

On his blog, Grillo has posted a round-up of comments made during the electoral campaign by Bersani regarding both the comedian himself and the Five-Star Movement , under the headline "Bersani: a dead man talking" (see the picture). Here's a sample:

• "There's little democracy in the Five-Star Movement." 
• Five-Star Movement people are "web fascists. Come out call us zombies."
• "With Grillo, we will end like Greece."
• "Lenin is not even nearly as bad as Grillo."
• "Grillo leads to disaster."
• "Grillo makes promises like Berlusconi."
• "If Grillo wins, the country will be in trouble."
• "Grillo? He can take us out of Europe."
• "Grillo takes people out of democracy."
• "Grillo is a third-rate autocrat."

Grillo says in the blog post:

"Bersani is a political stalker. He's been pestering the Five-Star Movement for days with indecent proposals, instead of resigning as everyone else would do in his situation."

"Over the past twenty years, [Bersani's] Democratic Party was in government for ten years, and over the past year-and-a-half it even took part in the grand coalition government with [Berlusconi's] PdL party, backing any sort of junk proposed by Rigor Montis [Grillo's nickname for Mario Monti]."

"The Five-Star Movement won't give any confidence vote to the Democratic Party or others. It will support in parliament only the laws that mirror its programme - whoever proposes them." 

So Bersani's first charm offensive (which we explained in more detail here) hasn't been very successful, and the centre-left leader is now in a quite uncomfortable situation. Bersani will almost certainly try again, but if cooperation with the Five-Star Movement proves a non-starter, he may face a tough choice (as we pointed out in our reaction to the Italian election results):

a) Go cap-in-hand to Berlusconi and say, "Scusa Silvio, we just changed our mind. Are you still up for a grand coalition?"

b) Throw in the towel and admit that there is no alternative but to call new elections.

One last thing: it's interesting to note that several people commenting underneath the post urge Grillo to be a bit more cautious, given the "historic opportunity" the Five-Star Movement has to change Italy. Will Beppe listen?