Why reasonable people experience frustration

Just when you were thinking they couldn't outdo themselves, Taiwan's pan-blue opposition has provided even more serious reasons to lock 'em up and throw away the keys.

An article in this morning's Taipei Times reveals an unbelievable statement from a PFP legislator:

Likening Chen to a despotic emperor, Emperor Chou of the Shang Dynasty, and Yuan Shih-kai, a warlord in the early 1900s who overthrew the Republic of China and declared himself emperor, PFP legislator Thomas Lee encouraged the public to "shoot President Chen dead" if they run into him.

[Democratic Progressive Party] legislative caucus whip Tsai Huang-lang criticized Lee's remark as "anti-democracy aimed at provoking confrontation and violence."

Branding Lee an "uncivilized instigator" and his remark "nearly insane," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung requested Wang [Jin-pyng, Deputy Chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party] uphold justice and revoke Lee's legal immunity as a lawmaker and send him to the legislature's discipline committee for punishment.

"We condemn such inappropriate and shameless remarks about the president and we're sorry to hear such remarks uttered by a highly-educated intellectual and college professor," Lin said. "It'd be the appeasement of the worst sort if we kept quiet about such demented, defamatory and negative comments." [Emphasis mine]

While it's on the front page of the Taipei Times, the title gives no indication of how serious that comment sounds. The Taiwan Daily put the story on page 3 of today's print edition under a three-centimeter tall headline reading: "Lee Tong-hao incites public to 'shoot to kill' head of state" (my translation of "Li Tong-hao tiao dong ren min qiang sha yuan shou").

Lee made the remarks at the Legislative Yuan on Thursday morning, but later the same day faxed an "apology" to the media simultanously blamed them for "misinterpreting" his comments, which he says weren't clear in the first place. He "clarified" his points by saying that he was really trying to say that the president has "stolen" the country and that if the executive branch weren't "dissolved" then somebody should "kill the president" -- as if that's any better. It sounds to me like Lee belongs behind bars.

Like vampires, they can't see themselves in the mirror
The opposition has lost their second presidential election in a row, but instead of getting introspective and trying to fix their own problems, they can only put the blame on the president for getting shot. They incited people to riot, then they ran away, blaming the DPP for instigating the violence. They made unreasonable demands, then cried "too late" when a reasonable solution was offered. They threatened to bring students to "charge into" the Presidential Office (hoping for another Tiananmen-like Massacre?). For years, the KMT forbade school kids from speaking Taiwanese, yet they accuse Chen Shui-bian of creating "ethnic divisions" by encouraging a "Taiwanese identity."

Can you believe these are the same people who say they are being "reasonable" and claim to be seeking the "truth"?!

Things to send 'em up the river for:
The print edition of today's Taiwan Daily (but not the online version) provides this excellent list of some things that have been said by the pan-blues since Chen Shui-bian and Vice-President Annette Lu were shot on March 19, just one day before the presidential election [translation, bracketed comments mine]:

* 3/19: Sisy Chen said that a nurse at Chi Mei Hospital told her that she had heard beforehand that "something big" would happen that afternoon. [No evidence was provided to back up her claims.]
* 3/20: Shen Chih-hui sent an e-mail to the media and supporters saying that A-bian's [Chen Shui-bian] gunshot wound was "perfect." [i.e., too perfect to be real]
* 3/23: Lien Chan says that using this kind of election "trick" to win means that the country has been stolen. James Soong says that because Chen Shui-bian hasn't responded to their demands [many of which were unconstitutional], the people have protested, and the stock market has declined as a result. [The stock market has bounced back.] Lien Chan also said on this day that the protests were already "out of his control."
* 3/24: James Soong expressed doubts that any other country in the world would continue an election after both the president and vice-president had been shot. [On March 19, Lien Chan said that "the assassination attempt ... would not ... influence the election's outcome] How could the president's attending physician be a plastic surgeon? What sort of plastic surgery was the president having? [More than one doctor attended to the president after he was shot.]
* 3/26: PFP legislator Pang Chien-kuo said that PFP legislator Liu Wen-hsiung was ready to give up his life and would bring a bulldozer to smash the barricades in front of the Presidential Office at the next day's protests [LINK]. PFP legislator Chiu Yi said he would bring 500,000 people to surround the Presidential Office and that the "horn of revolution had been sounded."
* 4/5: PFP Chairman James Soong threatened that if Chen Shui-bian would not respond to the demands of the pan-blues, he would bring students to break into the Presidential Office.
* 4/13: James Soong described April 10 protests as "southern cops beating Taipei citizens." KMT spokesman Tsai Cheng-yuan likened the April 10 situation to the infamous incident in Tiananmen Square when Deng Xiaoping brought in troops from Mongolia to Beijing.
* 4/14: James Soong said of Chen Shui-bian's invitation for him and Lien Chan to attend the May 20 inauguration ceremony that he and Lien should be the ones being inaugurated. He also said that President Chen on May 20 will be "declaring himself president." Furthermore, since Chen has also begun to name his new cabinet, Soong said he is harming Taiwan's Constitutional rule and bringing unprecedented danger. Also, Soong said that he thinks the May 20 inauguration will bring Chen even more "backtalk" from "the common people."
* 4/15: PFP legislator Thomas Lee (Lee Tong-hao) says [all the things mentioned at the top of this post]

Winning these people over via "reason" would appear to be an impossible dream.

Perhaps this latest incident was a reaction to recent statements by the DPP that they would change their "cutthroat" strategy to a "decapitation" strategy because the "opposition's head is still clinging to the neck after the March 20 election." It doesn't sound to me like they're threatening to kill anyone. As they've explained, they're simply hoping to put an end to the madness caused by the pan-blue majority in the legislature which fights the DPP every step of the way.

The pan-greens have never advocated "assassinating" the people who are accusing Chen Shui-bian of being a "dictator." Until they "decapitate" that beast which is the KMT-PFP alliance, they will have a long, difficult struggle ahead.