March 24, 2004

Election rhetoric can get hot. Sometimes the hyperbole starts flying like monkey poo. And, yes, we've all at one time or another compared out least favorite politician to Hitler. But you gotta admit, this one takes the cake. A Taiwanese opposition party had the chutzpah to create a graphic analogy between President Chen and Most Hated Guy in the History of the Entire World. So the tiny Jewish community in Taiwan complains and the ads are taken down, only to be replaced by Saddam and Bin Laden. I can't believe how much fun politics is in Taiwan.
posted by pyrrthon1 20 years ago
  • While I'm at it, They're ever going after the wives.
  • Anytime the local news has a story about one politician beating the holy hell out of another -- in session, of course -- it's in Taiwan. I can see it now... American Politics meets Taiwanese Politics : "Mr. Speaker, I humbly submit that we end this treacherous filibuster by the neo-commie Democrats by... Mortal Combat!!!" Although, in a way, it's nice to see them setting down their traditions of rough-and-tumble legislative pugilism and settling for the simpler and time honored American methods of wholesale slander. It's just a shame that Ann Coultier doesn't speak Taiwanese; her brand of frothy rhetoric would fit right in.
  • What? How dare they minimize Hitler's genocidal regime as petty campaign rhetoric? I've never witnessed such poor taste.
  • Politics in Taiwan is pure insanity. Pan-green had (supposedly) 2 million supporters marching on February 28; to up the ante, pan-blue organized (supposedly) 2.3 million to protest President Chen on March 13, while pan-green held a counter-rally of (supposedly) 500,000 on the same day. And this is an island of 23 million people. Can you imagine one tenth of Americans protesting Bush on the streets? The recount drama is progessing much like Florida 2000. All my relatives and friends in Taiwan are pan-blue, the loser demanding a recount (among other things). I'm embarrassed for them.
  • I found a good op-ed about the sorry state of political rhetoric in the U.S. today. (Flibbertigibbets.)
  • Am I the only one who thought they were talking about George Bush, aka Shrub?
  • Wendell: I love how, in the article you linked to, Dalton McGuinty has been promoted to head of the "Canadian Liberal Party" (he's a Provincial leader). Though it should be noted that McGuinty won the election, not least due to the aforesaid kitten-eating remarks.
  • Naxo : from your first link -- [...] After years of talking about "feminazis" and "Hitlery" Clinton, the right wing suddenly felt that Third Reich references were absolutely indefensible. Republicans expressed new-found outrage, and the corporate media dutifully tsk-tsked. MoveOn pulled the ads from their contest Website. Ha, ha! your very first link cuts your argument off at the knees! Maybe we could get Bill O'Reilly to just say "Stop doing what we're doing!" because between this and the complaints about MoveOn funding ads, it can't be too much more obvious. Besides, there's some difference between 'the people' getting artsy-craftsy indignant and having, say, Kennedy or Hastert whipping out the Nazi comparisons.
  • I don't have knees...I lost them in 'Nam
  • Ah, politics in Taiwan is child's play now. When I was there, you could get thrown in jail for the rest of your life for talking against the government and/or using the word "Formosa." Those were the days.
  • Ha, languagehat. Back then students were forbidden to speak Taiwanese in school. Dark, dark times.