Final Word from Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Andrej Babiš is kicking himself for allowing Miroslav Kalousek to get under his skin in a TV debate on Sun., but an opinion poll for Parlamentní listy of 323 viewers nevertheless shows that Babiš won the OVM confrontation. According to 67% of respondents, Babiš came out on top, despite his shouting, his use of a mild swear word (průser) and his claim (twice!) that the country has higher budget revenue than expenses. Kalousek garnered only a 21% rating from respondents. Regardless of what the poll found, the real winner was Bohuslav Sobotka, who wasn't even in the studio. When two fight, as the Czech expression goes, the third laughs. Sobotka is the frontman for a bigger criminal empire than either of theirs, but he got to listen to Babiš and Kalousek call each other the country's biggest crook. Babiš should instead be kicking himself for allowing host Václav Moravec to trick him into appearing with a minor-league opponent. [Czech Republic TOP 09 ČSSD ANO Czech TV Television televised]
Glossary of difficult words
to kick oneself (for doing something) - to reproach oneself; to feel or show regret for an action;
to get under someone's skin - to annoy or irritate someone intensely;
průser - Czech for "mess" or "slip-up";
to garner - to gather or collect;
frontman - a person who represents an illegal or disreputable organization to give it an air of legitimacy;
minor-league - of lesser power or significance.