Originally posted by: LongCoolMother
Originally posted by: maddogchen
Just came back from Taiwan. Man so annoying, they like put up election flags every 5 feet in Taiwan. What a waste of crap. And the television coverage was so damn annoying. "Oh I'm gonna commit suicide if ___ doesn't win" Damn drama queens. And everywhere we drove we seem to get stuck behind a Ma propaganda parade of cars that blocked traffic along the busy streets.
I heard Ma was being investigated for corruption charges, I wonder how him being elected will affect the investigation.
When I flew back to Taiwan I noticed a lot of old gheezers. I bet they were all flown in by the KMT to vote for Ma. Damn thats nice, a cheap vacation package to Taiwan every four years where you are wined and dined by the KMT party and get sent around in cars waving flags for the KMT just for voting their way. How do I sign up? I remember my mom telling me how the KMT came by their neighborhood when she was young to collect ballots. These groups of people would collect the ballots from the neighbors for "gifts" and fill them out themselves. Must be nice with such a small population to just buy the votes instead of wasting money campaigning.
Well it will be interesting to see what happens in Taiwan the next four years. The KMT seemed to block every move the DPP made and stalled progress for quite a while. They even blocked the purchases of major military hardware from the US for their own selfish reasons. Maybe we will finally acquire the things the military desperately needs now. Whatever happened to the submarines we wanted?
Criticism a bit ironic coming from, *ahem* a person who "just came back from Taiwan." :laugh: As far as I know, both the KMT and DPP expected about 200,000 voters from overseas to cast their ballots. Thus it probably didn't affect the outcome much if at all. Plus, the margin of victory was something like 2 million. If you're tired of the propaganda, just head south to the DPP stronghold in Kaohsiung, where Hsieh was mayor. But then again, even that southern city voted something like 51/49 in favor of Ma.
Ma was cleared of all charges prior to the election. And you'd have to be crazy if you think one party or another DOESN'T buy votes. Such is the state of Taiwan politics.
And things are looking rosy so far.
stocks soared after election results. Not to mention the week prior to the election, when expectations of Ma's victory shot stocks to a 5-month high.