Have you ever shot a handgun, and more so at a moving target? The head is smaller than the body and thus more difficult to hit.
A good shooter may aim at the head, or someone with a sniper rifle - but standing in a crowd shooting at a moving target with a home-made gun you better aim at the body and hope to get lucky.
In any case the person being shot at would be incredibly stupid to participate in such a thing under the known circumstances.
[quote=“Jive Turkey”]
In my opinion, the possible disenfranchisement of military personnel has been the ONLY possible reason for questioning the validity of the election results. However, Lian and Song have not made a cogent argument for cancelling the election results based on this issue. They’ve been going in every direction rather than focusing on the one thing that most people would agree is unjust. My thinking is that there are two possible reasons for this. The first reason is that there were actually very few military personnel who were not able to vote, or that these people would not have been allowed to vote even without an assassination attempt.[/quote]
I agree. If there were a large number of people denied a vote because of this, it would be a very valid complaint; however, until we see something to back up the KMTs claims it is all a load of hot air. The thing that does worry me slightly though is that the government seem to have been changing their story as time has gone by: 13,000 … no 37,000 … that’s standard … no, that was because of the alert … wait it could have been a bit more (but we can’t give you the figures due to national security). As far as I can tell, there is now no official figure for how many in the military couldn’t vote.
Waaaaay to subtle for the KMT. Anyway, if that was the case, don’t you think the DPP would already have been loudly trumpeting this fact already?
The only problem with Taiwan’s election process does seem to be that it’s difficult for people to vote if they live/work a long way from their household registration; however, I’d be very careful about changing it. The big advantage of this system is its simplicity and transparancy: If you want to vote, you physically have to go to your home town, use your chop (plus ID card) to register, then vote. No postal votes to worry about, no proxy voting to worry about, no special cases to worry about. Given the mistrust between the parties, this is important. Until Taiwan becomes a place where people trust the voting process, no changes should be made to make voting more complicated to manage.
That is what the top military brass have said repeatedly [and by the way Juba, they’re not politicians, they’re career soldiers, and most likely bluer-than-blue supporters just like you], but the KMT/PFP refuses to believe it. Rather than recycling baseless accusations and inciting mobs to riot, the pan-Blues can easily ask the Control Yuan or the courts to investigate this.
By the way, even if it turns out that extra soldiers were prevented from voting because of a hightened alert, so? Can you prove that it was unnecessary and intended solely to change the outcome of the election?
And even if you can somehow “prove” that, it still doesn’t mean there’s a basis for a new election.
Take the example of an incumbent handing out largesse to his constituents to influence votes – clearly that’s an “unfair” tactic, and grossly unethical, but the way you address that is by voting the bum out, or with an impeachment/recall.
Has anybody anywhere reported any “scientific” poll results asking people whether they really think Chen Shuibian faked the assassination attempt? (I already know about the “I asked some of my business acquaintances” pseudo-polls.) I’d also be curious to know about poll results for questions along the lines of “If the presidential election were reheld today, who would you vote for now?” If the KMT were smart, they’d be conducting these polls themselves – maybe they have, and that’s why some are calling for Lien Chan’s resignation…
Gonein60sec (we can only hope so) said:
[quote]Well unless you are one of the greedy Americans who only
care about selling weapons to Taiwan and suck all the money out of Taiwan[/quote]
Three years ago this month the US offered the largest arms package to Taiwan in a decade. In fact, Taiwan asked for more than the US was willing to give it; and, in fact, Taiwan has not coughed up any money for any of this yet.
Ah, youthful ignorance. Now you see why I never wanted to be a parent.
Frightening to think that this might have been written by someone who actually believes in what he writes.
re: juba’s coherent argument about cancellation of leave to vote…i take your point but really professional soldiers have to give priority to defense of the nation and/or the president…this supercedes their democratic right to vote and anyway the rules were in place before the election…you cannot after the fact argue they are unfair just because historically the army is pro-kmt (hmm why would that be i wonder…anyone know the ratio of waisheng:benshengren in the upper echelons of the military?)
re: gone in60 secs incoherent drivel…can we have a referendum to suspend this guys free speech rights?..if ever there was a case he has to be it! (non taiwan citizens are not here forever so whats the point of minding political issues??? WTF!!)
Here we go again: “Taiwan VP says she was main target of shooting…”
Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu, known for making controversial statements, said on Tuesday she was the MAIN repeat MAIN target of a shooting that lightly injured her and President Chen Shui-bian on the eve of elections.
“All kinds of evidence show that I was the MAIN target,” the usually humble and self-effacing Lu told visiting scholars from Singapore.
Where did she get this information???
In retrospect, I’m MORE THAN ONLY EXTREMELY grateful that the would-be assassin failed…
Question: If it were Lu+some DPP guy vs. Lien+Soong, would the pan-blues have won?
Although I strongly supported the pan-greens in this election, the aspect of their victory that makes me most uneasy is having to put up with another four years of Lu as Vice President.
As usual, she’s talking nonsense. The trajectory of the bullets makes it clear enough who the target was. But Lu is as far out of touch with reality as Lien, Soong and their most rabid supporters, and now that she and Chen are more or less safely assured of another four years in the Presidential Office, I can only fear that she’ll lose all the restraint she’s maintained in the last few months and start making even more ludicrous and offensive pronouncements than she did at her worst moments in the past.
aye but you’ve got to admire her sharp sense of fashion lads…they be some knatty threads she be wearin’ mun…
She didn’t actually say that. In the Taipei Times it says 'All evidence has proved I was the FIRST target to be shot." I suspect that someone has deliberately mistranslated this, or else misunderstood. It is quite true that the first bullet hit her. Perhaps she was the target of both bullets – that would explain the graze of Chen – the shooter was trying to get in a second shot before the President blocked his view of Lu.
Vorkosigan
And perhaps the same applies to this quote, but I was amused by the statement that she felt ‘like I’m being assassinated again’. Again? Well, Easter has just passed I suppose 
hmm the plot thickens…seems like the whole thing is a personal vendetta agst annette…maybe it was that crazy english teacher (tony?) who took out a billboard proposing marriage some time ago…hell hath no fury like a taiwanese man spurned…
[quote=“daasgrrl”]
And perhaps the same applies to this quote, but I was amused by the statement that she felt ‘like I’m being assassinated again’. Again? Well, Easter has just passed I suppose [/quote]
She does seem to have an uncanny knack of being mis-quoted!
The VP could be referring to a form of political assassination for her being jailed for the Kaohsiung Incident in 1979, where she was release on medical grounds in 1985.
But the first bullet hit the windscreen on Chen’s side – well over on his side, not even anywhere near the middle – and ricocheted off at an angle onto her knee. If the gunman had been aiming at her, that would make him a very, very bad shot indeed, as the bullet’s trajectory from gun to windscreen was evidently taking it several feet wide of Lu (not so far short of barn door width).
True, but that would depend on the angle at which it hit the windshield. In any case, I was just speculating. I don’t think for a minute that she was the target…unless, the DPP decided she was expendable, and decided to have her whacked so that Chen would get sympathy votes, and votes from all those who think she is a twit in shoulder padded-blouses. Mwahahahaha…paranoia…big destroya!
You’re talking about a very large number of votes there, that’s for sure. I firmly believe that, if he’d had a different running mate (such as Yeh Chu-lan, who could have pulled in a lot more Hakka votes), he’d have won by a margin of one or two percentage points, rather than 0.228 – and then Lien and Soong would have had no excuse for all this post-election kerfuffle (though I’m sure they’d never have accepted the result with anything like good grace no matter how wide the margin of victory might have been).
So why did Chen choose Lu? Some possibilities I can think of:
- Women votes. She’s been active in womens rights, so I assume could pull in some women voters.
- DPP faithful. To ensure the DPP stay united? She’s been involved in the DPP from the early days (inprisoned for the Kaoshiung incident, etc.), so she’s probably got a lot of strong internal support.
- Makes Chen look like a moderate. Having someone like Lu as VP might not be such a bad thing - after all it’s a high-profile position with little actual power. Having an outspoken idealist might suit Chen, as he can use Lu to float the more pro-independence ideas, and then be seen to be taking a more sensible middle-of-the-road position.
All idle speculation Anyone with a bit more insight into the internal workings of the DPP know?