Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Hot air, pants wetting spice up election race
Topic Started: Jun 18 2006, 10:19 PM (101 Views)
musicasacra
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
Hot air, wet pants spice up election race

Jun 16, 10:25 AM (ET)

By Catherine Bremer

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A squawking wild turkey as president, voodoo, a dancing grandpa pharmacist and a nervous criminal urinating in his pants on television -- welcome to Mexico's election race, as wacky as it is vitriolic.

Full of colorful insults, blaring pop songs and nonsensical sparring, the campaign for the July 2 election has been based as much on personalities and petty point-scoring as policies.

Sick of weeks of mudslinging and silliness, voters have been sticking pins in voodoo dolls of the candidates, and the Federal Election Institute has axed some political ads as too slanderous to be aired.

"It's a very basic, very crude, very coarse, very clumsy election campaign," commentator Guadalupe Loaeza told Reuters.

The battle for the presidency is the first since 71 years of one-party rule ended in 2000 and fierce competition between the three main parties has sparked flaming tensions.

Probably the oddest campaign moment yet is a TV ad by third-place candidate Roberto Madrazo showing a criminal wetting his pants out of fear for Madrazo's tough stance on crime.

"For me, it's lacking in creativity. Vulgar. It's resorting to something very childish," said Loaeza.

Among outlawed ads are spots by conservative Felipe Calderon calling his leftist arch-rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador a danger and linking him to Venezuela's fiery leader Hugo Chavez.

Calderon, a balding lawyer whose hairline is inked in on his campaign posters, is in a neck-and-neck race with Lopez Obrador, a crusader for the poor who dons floral garlands and tropical-style guayabera shirts.

In their latest spat, Lopez Obrador sent Calderon's campaign office huge cardboard boxes he said contained documents proving Calderon awarded his brother-in-law lucrative contracts when energy minister.

But Calderon said the boxes were a farce, empty but for a few meaningless papers. He said his rival was a liar, called him "Lopez Hablador" (Lopez Talker) and his aides "clowns."

Rhetoric has been harsh, reflecting a nation split between left and right that is still learning some of the rules of democracy.

"If the players persist in just insulting each other, they may win the contest but could not lead the country," wrote columnist Javier Oliva in daily La Jornada.

DANCING PHARMACIST

Lopez Obrador has laid into President Vicente Fox, who he says is illegally helping Calderon, dubbing him a "chachalaca" -- a wild turkey known for its piercing squawk.

"He acts like a chachalaca, he screeches like a chachalaca," the leftist said, also accusing Fox of "verbal incontinence."

Keeping with the bird theme, he told supporters after a heated election debate last week that his rivals "came to eat pigeon, but what they got was a fighting cock."

Amid all the madness, frustrated voters have lobbed plastic bottles, paper airplanes and inflated condoms at candidates and even offered one, Patricia Mercado, a puff of marijuana.

Some of the most colorful campaigners cannot legally run because no political party will back them.

They include oddball magnate Victor Gonzalez, who has adopted the persona of his pharmacy chain's rotund and grandfatherly mascot, "Dr Simi," with fluffy white hair and mustache.

Claiming more Mexican fans than Mickey Mouse, and fond of models in mini-skirts, Gonzalez hires people to wear spongy Dr Simi costumes and dance outside his pharmacies.

"I have money but I earned it honestly. I have women but I am single. The people love these things," he said recently.

Also seeking support is Zapatista rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos, who gave his first live TV interview in years in his trademark ski mask and smoking his pipe to call for the overthrow of the government, whoever wins.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Mikhailoh
Member Avatar
If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Why aren't our elections so entertaining? Seems like we would have invented it, what with reality TV and infotainment.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Aqua Letifer
Member Avatar
ZOOOOOM!
Quote:
 
Full of colorful insults, blaring pop songs and nonsensical sparring, the campaign for the July 2 election has been based as much on personalities and petty point-scoring as policies.


The only difference between their elections and ours is that they're more honest about their process.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Enjoy forums? Start your own community for free.
« Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic »
Add Reply