Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Taiwan vs. Spain - the parallels continue...
Remember the claim that where the Popular Party really sank itself by sticking to its increasingly unlikely claims that the Basques were behind the Madrid bombing?
According to the Weekly Standard, the same thing happened in Taiwan. The author, who was there, notes that the KMT became obsessed by the fear that sympathy for the nearly assassinated Chen would translate into a comeback win, leading them to spread increasingly unlikely rumors that Chen had staged the shooting for precisely that reason. Therefore, the KMT's moronic reaction to the shooting altered the election as much, if not more, then the shooting itself.
Also curious to note that from the domestic side of things, the KMT is the party of the right in Taiwan, and Chen represents the party of the left. (At least the major ones - Taiwan has minor parties that aid in coalition governments.) I never knew that before, even though I've always admired Chen. (My views on world leaders are based pretty much solely on what they do on the world stage - what they do internally as far as taxes and domestic laws are between them and their electorate, as far as I'm concerned. That's why I can admire Tony Blair, while recognizing that were I a Brit, I probably wouldn't vote for him.)
Curiouser and curiouser...
Remember the claim that where the Popular Party really sank itself by sticking to its increasingly unlikely claims that the Basques were behind the Madrid bombing?
According to the Weekly Standard, the same thing happened in Taiwan. The author, who was there, notes that the KMT became obsessed by the fear that sympathy for the nearly assassinated Chen would translate into a comeback win, leading them to spread increasingly unlikely rumors that Chen had staged the shooting for precisely that reason. Therefore, the KMT's moronic reaction to the shooting altered the election as much, if not more, then the shooting itself.
Also curious to note that from the domestic side of things, the KMT is the party of the right in Taiwan, and Chen represents the party of the left. (At least the major ones - Taiwan has minor parties that aid in coalition governments.) I never knew that before, even though I've always admired Chen. (My views on world leaders are based pretty much solely on what they do on the world stage - what they do internally as far as taxes and domestic laws are between them and their electorate, as far as I'm concerned. That's why I can admire Tony Blair, while recognizing that were I a Brit, I probably wouldn't vote for him.)
Curiouser and curiouser...
