[b]Moderator’s note: Discussion of the KMT leadership race can be found over [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/kmt-leadership-battle-2005/15667/1 Please keep this thread for the poll, and brief comments only.[/b]
Now, we have 2 candidates running for the chairmanship of the “good” ol’ party.
[quote=“Durins Bane”]I voted Wang. Mr. Ma doesn’t have the fortitude to be a leader.[/quote]His math skills need some work too, 270,000 marchers my ass!
270,000 was the Taipei police estimate based on sample surveys and crowd density. 1,000,000 was the figure put out by the Marchers who didn’t even bother to do that. They announced they would gather a million and then on the day of the march they announced that they had a million(no proof). Obviouslly no political biases to inflate the figure there. Thats not to say the Taipei police department doesn’t have its own prejudices. Police the world over will generally tend to underestimate protest sizes, though not as much as the protestors will tend to inflate them. ESNW’s blog has a couple of indepth posts about this phenomenon, in light of Hong Kong demonstrations. Their half a million man march was actually closer to 130,000. So the 270,000 figure put out by the Taipei police department is probably closer to the actual amount than the 1 million claimed by the marchers. As noted, the problem is that journalists will no longer challenge seemingly ludicrous claims. The demonstrators could have stated 2 million people showed up and no one would have challenged the obvious problem with that. There is another post in another thread about the Baby bottom’s campaign. Someone noted that the western media actually believed that children actually bared their bottoms with the peace tatoos on their ass cheeks, instead of wearing those ridiculous little prints. Also noted, was that the poster was jubilant that the media got it wrong and that factual errors are of no consequence as long as it supports the cause. Lack of objectivity anyone?
I’m conflicted. I think Wang would be a better leader, and better for Taiwan should the KMT elected. But I think Ma getting chosen would be better for Taiwan becuase it would make the KMT more likely to lose. So how do I vote?
If you believe that a KMT return for power is bad for Taiwan, then you vote for Ma… I added a few question marks below in my initial comment. … For KMT, Taiwan, DPP… Was basically a way of getting people to add a few comments as to why they voted the way they did.
I’d be inclined to go the other way on that. Wang would be a better choice as a leader and politician, and probably make a more effective president should he get elected, but Ma would be far better for the KMT in that I think he’d be a shoo-in for the presidency if he ran. He can work the polls like a professional stripper, that man. He’d suck horribly at pretty much every other aspect though.
[quote=“Tetsuo”]He can work the polls like a professional stripper, that man. He’d suck horribly at pretty much every other aspect though.[/quote]What makes you think he’d actually get to run the country even if he was elected? The puppet strings on Ma are so obvious it’s hilarious.
Wrinkle face? No, no. Wrinkle face can never compare to oily face. Whoever runs KMT should acquire a slippery stomach just like oily face. Ma, Wang, are you listening?
Well, I voted Wang because:
a) He seems to be a moderate
b) He’s making all the right noises about the need to reform the KMT
c) He’s got a broader appeal (nobody really loves him, but noone really hates him either)
That said, after reading all the comments about him in the other thread, maybe Ma would be more of a breath of fresh air …
Which, given the fact that Lien Chan is one of the KMTs biggest problems, is a bit of a catch-22 situation.
… Oh, sorry. You meant “problems ” - yeah, I think the KMT still has a couple of billion NT-“problems” left in the bank. Shouldn’t take too long for him to tidy that up though.
I prefer Wang and think he’s going to win. It’s good for Taiwan because it will bring the bentu faction back to power in the KMT and continue the normalization of the KMT as just another political party. Wang probably doesn’t have the media savvy to beat FranK Hsieh or Su Zhenchang (the two likely DPP candidates), but he is a master of the backroom deal. Ma is out of his league.
Ma’s appeal outside of Taipei and possibly Taichung has always been an issue anyway. He looked incompetent in the Qiu Xiaomei case (not really his fault) and the longer he serves as mayor the more his dithering become obvious. I doubt seriouly that Wang will let him have the nomination, and even if he does, I don’t think he wil win.
Honestly, I think that Wang will be the more dangerous candidate seen from a DPP point of view. He’s seen as sensible, whereas Ma is more seen as a lightweight.
That Wang is able to rule the back rooms of the KMT makes him that much more dangerous, but he might end up as a good president.
Wang is an old-style politician, a local factional leader (Gaoxiong County) probably with his hands in lots of tills at local farmers financial organizations etc, ties to the local mob etc.
That’s what makes him a strong candidate for the KMT elections, his grassroots connections.
Looking beyond to the presidential elections, Ma and Wang are really the perfect combination: the slick northern waishengren and the country-folksy southern benturen.
My question: how do we know how ‘reformist’ they are? So far, I haven’t heard anything from either of the candidates to indicate their positions on the issues, beyond a load of chitchat about which kmt members would be allowed to vote or not.
What we need is a public debate about the issues, not a comparison based on their looks or ethnic background.
Wang will be better for Taiwan because he can actually speak Taiwanese. Listening to Ma’s attempts to speak Taiwanese is painful (and I don’t even speak the language myself).