Ledeen is an intelligent man. He knows Italy very well and in depth. So there are no excuses for his "mistakes": "which was expected to be a photo finish." This is a lie. From the very start there has always been a gap of 10 and more percentage points. "The big news is that the Communists are gone" This is ridiculous. Bertinotti, the leader of "La Sinistra Arcobaleno" has never been a comunist while Veltroni, leader of the Democrats, has been a leading member of the comunist party."Best to keep that quiet, or somebody might notice that hatred of America doesn't seem to affect the voters in Italy, France or Germany." This is worse than ridiculous, it's plain stupid. Does Ledeen suggest that the people who renamed the French fries where from the European Left ?