Polls for Nayarit gubernatorial election

Still at a very early stage in the electoral process in Nayarit, in the sense that none of the official candidates have been chosen yet, here are nonetheless the results of a poll of votes according to party preferences that give PRI 38 percent, PRD 13.8, and PAN 9.8 percent support. This means at this stage very little, and the one-on-one lineups quite likely reflect name recognition more than anything, but it is interesting reading nonetheless:

For high resolution  PDF file of the image below, click here. 

More on cristianos and catholics: Quality, not quantity?

Elio Masferrer Kan,  head of the Asociación Latinoamericana para el Estudio de las Religiones, argued that INEGI's figures on religious adherents are wrong and that catholics make out not 83.9, but 82.72 percent. Big deal, you might tell yourself - and that would in any case be pretty much what Manuel Corral of the catholic Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano seemingly responded:


"[Corral] minimized the decline of Catholics in the country. He said that what matters most to the Catholic Church is the quality of the faithful rather than the quantity (!)


What on earth does that even mean?

Michoacán politics: New leader for state PRD elected with "consensus"

Given that Fabiola Alanís Sámano stepped down in order to compete for the PRD's gubernatorial candidacy,  the state council of the PRD's Michoacán branch voted to elect national deputy Víctor Báez Ceja its new president. Báez represents the internal group Movimiento de Unidad Cardenista founded by Michoacán's current governor, Leonel Godoy, and was as such very much the "chosen one."


The outgoing president Fabiola Alanís Sámano is considered an ardent supporter of AMLO, but it is far from clear that she has the backing of Godoy to be his successor as governor. 


Other strong candidates: Antonio Soto Sánchez, Enrique Bautista, and Raúl Morón Orozco. I personally could think of no better candidate than Antonio Soto.

Quote of the day from Xóchitl Gálvez

Xóchitl Gálvez, on tour in Mexico State to promote the PRD-PAN alliance:

"If Enrique Peña Nieto came to fuck me over when I was the candidate for governor in Hidalgo, then I am coming here to do the same: He can go fuck himself."

AMLO interview with La Jornada: It doesn't get clearer than this

La Jornada has an interview with Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) in today's newspaper, and I strongly recommend it to be read in its entirety, as it outlines in crystal clear terms AMLO's conception of politics and of how to bring about change in Mexico.

An excerpt, roughly translated:

"We believe that the key is the transformation of the country. That it makes no sense to maintain the status quo. I argue that politics is about making history, and in a country like ours it is crucial to strive for true change. The reality is that Mexico is in the hands of a few, a mafia of power responsible for the current national tragedy; that there is, strictly speaking, no democracy, and that as long as one maintains this regime of  domination will be no possibilities for the vast majority of Mexicans. There will be no justice, welfare, peace and tranquility for the country."

LJ: But the PRD leadership emphasizes that one has gained political space?

"The leaders of the 'left,' and I will put it in quotation marks, be it councilors, mayors, governors, legislators, they accommodate and for them it is a way of live. So as not to be too inconsiderate: It is also a political conception; they think that they can gradually improve the situation of the country."

"They assume the role of parliamentarians, present points of agreement, participate in commissions. They travel abroad and attend all the forums, although this implies yielding to the 30 mobsters who have seized all powers, who control the television and almost all media. And the PRI and PAN are using them according to what suits them."

Gradual improvement, reforming and proposing laws, searching for compromise with other parties - AMLO may reject it, but for any government on the planet worthy of being called a democracy, this is what the political process is all about.

Ignorance and Cowardice: Hugo Valdemar and the sorrow state of Mexican high clergy

Found guilty by the Federal Electoral Tribunal (IFE) in having broken Mexican law, Hugo Valdemar, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Mexico, said he would impugn IFE's resolution, yet in the process exposing himself again as an ignoramus and a coward.

* Ignorant, for demanding "complete freedom of expression," when the issue at stake is rather that Valdemar has repeatedly referred to the PRD as a "fascist" party and called on the faithful to vote against it.
* Cowardly, for on the one hand claiming freedom of expression, but in the next breath declare that IFE misread him and that he didn't really say the things IFE documented he had said.

What a pitifully sorrow  intellectual and moral state of the high clergy of the Archdiocese of Mexico - Hugo Valdemar, and his boss and protector of pederasts, Norberto Rivera.

If only there were a Samuel Ruiz or Raúl Vera to take the place of these reactionaries, who make pope Ratzinger look like a liberal.

More on Calderón's statment; Gustavo Madero bactracks

Regarding Calderón's statement that the party had to look for the best possible candidate for 2012, whether a member or not, I asked, does Calderón have a particular non-PAN candidate in mind?

Writing in today's El Universal Denise Maerker, who I find to be a very sensible journalist and columnist, ask very much the same question, and notably claims that Calderón's declaration was "not an innocent suggestion."

She list three possible reasons for Calderón's comment on 2012:
- He doesn't think PAN has any winning candidate
- He is thinking of a possible alliance with the PRD
- He is playing a game, trying to cover up who his real preferred candidate is

Note as well that PAN appears backtrack on its seeming endorsement of Calderóns comment/proposal; party president Gustavo Madero said that it is in any case "99.99 percent sure" that PAN's 2012 candidate will be a party member" (though former president Vicente Fox backs what Calderón appeared to suggest).
We'll see.