The chairman of the DPP told his KMT counterpart to watch his language yesterday after Lien Chan (
At a KMT rally in Kaohsiung on Saturday, Lien called on voters to ditch the DPP and renounce this "scummy political party."
DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who is also the mayor of Kaohsiung, said yesterday that his counterparts should think twice before speaking -- leading to accusations over who was coarsening Taiwan's campaign culture.
Lien accused the DPP of harming the nation's campaign culture by twisting facts, dividing the nation along ethnic lines and advocating campaign "violence."
Hsieh advised Lien to "mind the use of his language."
The DPP chairman also said that if his party was indeed "scummy," then "it must not be an honorable thing to know that the KMT had lost to the DPP."
Lien lost last year's presidential election to Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), ending more than 50 years of KMT rule in Taiwan.
As for People First Party Chairman James Soong (
At a campaign rally in Kaohsiung on Saturday, Soong blamed Hsieh for the city's poor water quality. He also blamed what he called the mayor's poor administration of the city for severe flooding during storms earlier this year.
But Hsieh said Soong was partly to blame for Kaohsiung's problems.
"Since the tap-water company is a unit that is overseen by the Taiwan Provincial Government, why didn't he take care of Kaohsiung's water quality when he was the governor?" Hsieh said.
Soong was provincial governor from 1993 to 1998.
Hsieh also noted that when Chen proposed a NT$15 billion plan to improve Kaohsiung's water quality, Soong opposed the proposal.
Hsieh said that legislators supported by Soong were among those who blocked the plan.
"Aren't all these actions contradictory to what Soong was saying?" Hsieh said.
In related news, a recent survey found that roughly 50 percent of respondents were upset by the political bickering that has characterized the legislative campaign.
They also said that candidates weren't spending enough time talking about the issues.
The survey was conducted between Oct. 24 and Oct. 27 by the I-shu Marketing Survey Center.
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