Since becoming the successor to Jörg Haider after the governor’s fatal accident in October, Dörfler has won attention beyond Carinthia’s borders for one thing, above all. In the presence of his friend, Afro-Cuban schmalz-pop singer Roberto Blanco, he told a joke about two breast-feeding mothers, one black, one white. The white baby lets go of its mother’s breast and says, “Mummy, I want cocoa, too.” Of course this ruffled feathers, especially in distant Vienna; Roberto Blanco affirmed that he didn’t feel insulted, and Dörfler said he wouldn’t ban humor. With his carnival appearance in a garbage man costume, whose orange is also the colour of his party – the right-wing splinter group BZÖ (Alliance for the Future of Austria) – he once again confirmed who’s setting the standards for taste in Austria’s southernmost state. Last Sunday, this Dörfler, who has neither the looks nor the brains of his charismatic predecessor Haider, was elected to office with an overwhelming 45 percent.
more from Sign and Sight here.