The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) campaign to paint the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and President Chen Shui-bian (
The "tactics" included assassinating its own presidential candidate, bombing its own headquarters and kidnapping, poisoning or arranging traffic accidents for its own members.
The list came hot on the heels of news that KMT vice presidential candidate Vincent Siew (
Add to that KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung's (
It is somewhat ironic that the KMT should accuse the DPP of such dastardly behavior when the listed tactics read like a chronology of KMT deeds during the nation's period of democratization.
The DPP has no history of election-related violence and it -- along with Chen -- has accepted defeat gracefully whenever voters have rejected its candidates.
Opposition supporters will point to the assassination attempt on Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (
The images of a "dirty" DPP and a "power-crazed" Chen are simply the product of the pro-unification media and the KMT's propaganda machine. The KMT has decades of experience in control and manipulation of the media and remains extremely adept at it.
For an example of how these two powerful institutions work in tandem to minimize bad press for the KMT, one need only look at what happened when news broke that Siew had told Burghardt that the KMT's insistence on two-step voting would mean the DPP's UN referendum would fail. Evidence that it is working to suppress Taiwan internationally in line with China's goals is not something the KMT wants occupying the headlines.
The next day, without providing evidence, KMT Legislator Su Chi (
Journalists took the bait and voila -- the KMT's treacherous behavior was drowned out.
Go back to October when Hong Kong movie star Jimmy Wang (
The following day, the ever-willing Su -- again with hearsay as "evidence" -- alleged that the president was trying to build a nuclear bomb.
Then in February, when he was indicted, then KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou(
The pattern is hard to miss.
As Joseph Goebbels said: "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
That is why so many people have come to believe the economy is in dire straits.
Let's just hope that, come election time, voters are astute enough to see through the series of ridiculous accusations and choose candidates who have their and Taiwan's best interests at heart.
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