Friday, March 9, 2012

Bartlett - he of the 1988 "fall of the system" - for Senate

PRD was founded on the back of the July 6, 1988 fraud. One man greatly responsible for the election outcome was Interior Secretary Manuel Bartlett, who then also doubled as head of the commission organizing the election (if there ever was a fitting fox-guarding-the-hen house analogy, that's the one). Now, however, in an irony of ironies - I really don't know how to express this - AMLO's Morena movement is putting forth Bartlett to head its senator formula from Puebla.

That's right. The man responsible for the 1988 fraud that soon gave birth to the PRD, will now run as its candidate.

Are there no limits to how opportunistic AMLO will be in order to draw in votes? One graphic from El Economista puts a humerous spin on it:



El Economista
It is not a wholly perfect joke, though: While Bartlett his here seen putting on a PRD banner, it is, as Senator Carlos Navarrete made it very clear, AMLO's Morena that is pushing Bartlett, not the PRD.

Navarrete also said he would not move a finger to help Bartlett. Nor would anyone with a modicum of dignity on the Mexican left.


More from El Universal.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

AMLO like you ain't seen him yet

You may or may not know that AMLO is an avid baseball fan... and, as the picture from Milenio shows, he still plays the game when he can.

El candidato de las izquierdas.
Milenio

Greg for Senate? Maybe not such a great idea

Gregorio "Greg" Sánchez,  has not been convicted of any crime. Yet given the opposition from his own party against his candidacy - he is on both the Senate PR list, as well as the Senate district candidate - PRD should look again at this candidacy.

- His successor as mayor of Benito Júarez, Julián Ricalde Magaña, recently warned against his candidacy, saying that he could be barred from running - like he was when he ran for governor in 2010 (and spent months in prison).

- Now the Quintana Roo PRD branch threatens a boycott should he be a candidate.

It seems that this time the national PRD should listen to its state party branch. Greg really seems to come with far too much baggage.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Mexico 2012, Poll of polls!

A big tip of the hat to The Economist, which has some very wise words on opinion polling in Mexico and constructive ideas on how to reward accurate pollsters here, and moreover offers a great link to readers: A poll of polls for Mexico, by ADN Político.

Check it out here.

AMLO rising in new poll numbers from Ipsos-Bimsa

From the polling company Ipsos-Bimsa:


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

"Calderón promises to respect the outcome of the U.S. election."

Imagine the headline, "Calderón to respect the outcome of the 2012 U.S. election," or perhaps better yet,  "Calderón  promises not to intervene in the 2012 U.S. election."

It reads quite strange - why on earth would anyone not recognize the election outcome in the United States? And why would Calderón feel obliged to say so?

But flip it around: "Biden offers not to intervene in the election," one actual headline referring to the recent meeting U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden had with Mexico's three presidential contenders.

Why does the latter headline read far less strange than the former?

UZI in Facebook picture: Bad idea

It would seem to generally be a bad idea and at the very least be of very poor taste to appear in your Facebook profile in Mexico carrying guns.

It is especially a bad idea if you are carrying weapons "exclusively for use by the armed forces," such as a seemingly fully functioning UZI submachine gun.

And it is a purely idiotic and reprehensible thing to appear with your UZI if you are a politician from the state of Michoacán and you have just achieved a spot on the list to be a federal deputy (!).

Yet here is Ethan Peña, a 22-year old idiot who until recently was a member of the PRD (it immediately kicked him out), brandishing his UZI, while at the same time running for congress.


And the text accompanying the picture speaks for itself: “ira pinche mapache pelos de estopa es una usi de 35 calibre 9mm ok para ke sepas con esa te saco toda la caca ke tienes en el culo…”

It would be immature for a 12-year-old.

I hope this guy soon will have the police asking some questions about his gun.