So who needs the “twisty, crazy thrills” of ABC’s “Scandal” when we have our own real-life prime-time soap opera going on in Brazil?
Granted, Dilma Rousseff doesn’t dress quite as well as Kerry Washington, nor have as intriguing a supporting cast, but, hey, we don’t have to wait around for an entire week to get the dirt on the latest cliffhanger.
Yes, the continuing saga of the “Perils of Dilma” just keeps getting juicier and juicier, and while there may be so many plot twists that it is hard to keep up with the drama, the riveting turns and jolts in her on-again-off-again impeachment are enough to have any political junkie on the edge of their seat.
Let’s review: At the start of the week, the Senate of Latin America’s largest economy was all set to vote on whether to impeach its embattled president for corruption and misallocation of funds (along with a few other titillating wrongdoings, such as nepotism and cronyism), when her own personal Robert Warde in the form of a newly appointed speaker of the House of Deputies comes rushing to the rescue of our damsel in distress, offering to annul the dastardly impeachment process.
The Senate responded with a nasty snub to the newbie speaker by declaring that it didn’t give a hoot about his annulment declaration and was going to proceed with the suspension process as planned, creating a salacious power struggle between Brazil’s upper and lower houses.
Still reeling from the sting of usurped authority, both sides swore they would take their cases to the Brazilian Supreme Court.
But wait … there’s more!
Pressured by public outrage (and perhaps a tint of a conscience), Waldir Maranhão (AKA Robert Warde) does a bombshell about-face late last night retracting his annulment of the proceedings and leaving our heroine Dilma faced with danger yet again.
Oh dear, if a majority of Brazil’s senators (no doubt dressed in dark capes and brandishing handlebar moustaches) vote on Wednesday to put her on trial, poor defenseless Dilma may be ousted from her office as soon as Thursday.
Quick, quick, we need another hero!
Will he arrive in time to keep the Brazilian Senate from tying Dilma to the political train tracks or throwing her into a lagoon of partisan sharks and alligators?
Stay tuned, the story isn’t over yet.
One thing is certain: Brazil knows how to keep its audiences entertained.
And if the Summer Olympics are even half as thrilling as Dilma’s mesmerizing interpretation of “As the World Turns in São Paulo,” we are definitely in for a great show!
