Editorial: The bum of bums
In times of war or peace, when it comes to who is history’s No. 1 scoundrel, gangster or phony, as you may choose to call him, you can always start an argument and get a lot of nominations.
To avoid too much debate about this one, and to allow a little latitude, we employ racetrack parlance and assert that Benito Mussolini will always be in the money for win, place or show.
Anyway, in our book, he will at least tie in a photo finish for first in pusillanimity, past, present or future.
His outstanding qualification for that rating is the way he played safe until convinced that Germany had won the war. He believed he was on a cinch when, right after Dunkirk, he stuck the knife into the back of his neighbor. He considered that he was taking no chance, not risking even what Hitler had risked.
Winston Churchill perhaps described him best as the “tattered lackey.”
He was the world’s greatest exhibitionist. He is now being exhibited, but not on a balcony.
So endeth that chapter.