Don't get fooled again!

While esteemed bloggers like Michael Turton and A-gu (阿牛) are under the impression that Taiwan's DPP won't even earn 50 seats in this Saturday's legislative election, I'm personally under the very strong impression that party's opposition -- the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) -- is in full panic mode for fear that they'll lose their majority, despite pan-blue polls which attempt to convince voters that they're way ahead.

Case in point
I have seen the KMT use more crazy tactics than I can keep track of, and their recent fascination with "dirty tricks" is absolutely laughable.

But let's see who the party of dirty tricks really is, shall we?

Psychics for their scars
In an attempt to buttress their chances of being elected, the KMT has enlisted the help of an American "prophetess" (預言家) named Elizabeth Fotinopoulos (伊莉莎貝·福提諾寶勒斯). Fotinopoulos has conveniently "prophesied" that an attempt will be made on the life of their presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), but that he will survive.

Readers should remember that Taiwan's current president, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) (DPP) survived a gunman's bullet on March 19, 2004 -- the day before Taiwan's most recent presidential election -- and that the KMT accused Chen of having "staged" the assassination attempt in order to gain "sympathy votes" and win the presidency.

Using simple math, Jerome F. Keating thoroughly debunked the possibility that any such votes would have accounted for the change in votes on either side of the political divide in the previous 8 years. Even if you've read it before, you should go over it once again so you'll be aware of the absolute nonsense the KMT spews at every turn.

Back to the future-teller
Returning from our brief aside, we must pull back the curtain a bit further to see more about this "prophetess," because by all appearances, there is a conspiracy at work here. (I wonder if she could have predicted that I'd be writing about her at this point in time.)

A Google search for "Elizabeth Fotinopoulos" (supposedly "America's most famous prophetess") -- even when limited to "English pages only" -- brings up Fotinopoulos' personal page and other pages which are written in Chinese. There is no Wikipedia page for Fotinopoulos [UPDATE 1a: screenshot], nor are there any pages (so far) on that site which even mention her [UPDATE 1b: screenshot]. There was nothing about her on Amazon.com either. What more is there to know?

The hidden truth about "Your Hidden Truth"
Fotinopoulos' book, "Your Hidden Truth," isn't only unusual in that it has Chinese on the cover. Wouldn't you know? It's published by Linking Books (聯經出版公司), which just happens part of the "UDN Group" along with the pro-unification United Daily News.

If you think that's bad, you'll be shocked when you find out that on Saturday, January 12, 2008, Fotinopoulos is giving a public talk -- timed to coincide precisely with Taiwan's legislative election. [UPDATE 2: That speaking engagement has been canceled (see the red text) for reasons not given. Bet she didn't see that coming!]

About a week ago, someone asked on Yahoo! Canada Answers:

Will the assassination of Bhutto scenario be duplicated in Taiwan in its imminent cut-throat elections?
President of Taiwan once said he was advised to declare martial law (emergency status) in the upcoming elections under certain conditions.
This was confirmed by its security bureau later.

American prophetess (Elizabeth Fotinopoulos) once said the competing, promising candidate would be in danger -- his life is threanted [sic].

Why there are so many smears, riots, murders in developing countries [sic (missing apostrophe)] elections?

Sounds like a smear is happening right there in the last sentence. (And how did this person just happen to know what Fotinopoulos supposedly said about Ma?)

Furthermore, Taiwan is not a "developing countr[y]." Chen Shui-bian did not threaten martial law, as insinuated above. And the KMT is still the party of violence, as shown by very recent history. It also just so happens that their "promising candidate" is described that way because of pan-blue polls.

How they duplicate the dupes (AKA "complete nondisclosure")
First, get someone on your side. Then, give them "credentials" by publishing their book (which you might even help them to write). Next, get them to say something that will help you achieve your goals. Finally, point to "their words" with your own newspaper [bonus link!] -- with no mention that you published her -- in effect pretending that she's a neutral source.

How many times must people see this kind of thing happen before they realize they're being duped?

Returning to present predictions of the future
In the first paragraph, I stated doubt regarding Michael Turton and A-gu's predictions about Saturday's election. Look at this parody-phrase of the KMT's "explanation" for why they "should have won" the 2004 presidential election:

"But we always used to win!"

If "election by tradition" were good enough, we wouldn't need elections at all. The fact of the matter is that voting patterns change, vote buying can be reduced, and the public can be more enlightened -- even in the face of the mendacious media -- because we're living in the age of the Internet and YouTube. A strong desire to know the truth helps, too.

Don't miss these
* The DPP's own list of 15 dirty tricks which have already been employed by the KMT
* I don't think the word "rumor" means what Chiu Yi (邱毅) wants you to think that it means.
* Don't forget how terribly wrong the pan-blue surveys in the runup to the 2006 mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung were.
* Michael Turton put a post up last night about How the Referendums Will Be Defeated. See some more KMT dirty tricks at work there.

Post valediction
With only about 36 hours remaining until this very important election, this is "the world's Nth most famous Taiwan blogger," Tim Maddog, signing off. Good night, and good luck videotaping vote buyers and getting the video(s) on YouTube.

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Past, present, and future tenses: Taiwan, 台灣, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, United Daily News, 聯合報, UDN, Elizabeth Fotinopoulos, 伊莉莎貝·福提諾寶勒斯, dirty tricks, 奧步

Cross-posted at Taiwan Matters!

Labels: Chinese Nationalist Party, dirty tricks, Elizabeth Fotinopoulos, KMT, Kuomintang, Taiwan, UDN, United Daily News, 中國國民黨, 伊莉莎貝·福提諾寶勒斯, 台灣, 奧步, 聯合報