Shadowgov.tw active

OK, well frankly, a website isn't a shadow government, and neither is a private organization with no official ties to the opposition party. Especially if it doesn't actually have ministers.

But here is the site Frank Hsieh's calling the shadow government: http://www.shadowgov.tw/

This site will eventually have an online TV station, radio station, forum (already active), shadow government netizens, sections dealing with all five branches of government ... it could end up being pretty cool, but it's just web-based from what I can tell. Perhaps the upgrades to the DPP think tank will create a more real-world based shadow government, and this is meant to be a complementing project.

Hsieh has a sort of introductory letter on the front page. The most inane paragraph is below, with a rather loose translation to make it a bit more natural :

我 的想法是，選舉給我的教訓是，台灣已經不是一個「全是或全非」的時代，我們找不出一個單一理由來定義544萬票是一個單一面貌，是堅持台灣主體意識的、是 反對兩岸共同市場的、不要綠卡的、或是中間獨立選民。同樣的，我們也找不到一個單一理由來檢討那756萬票爲什麼不投給我?到底是因為恨民進黨、恨陳水扁 總統、喜歡馬英九、不喜歡我，亦或是支持兩岸共同市場、支持愛台12建設、還是因為選舉當天天氣很好，所以不投票給我，其實，可能存在比756萬還多的理 由。

I think the election taught me not everything is just black or white in Taiwan anymore. We can't find some single overarching reason that 5.44 million people decided to vote for me. Some did it because of consciousness of a Taiwanese body politic. Others did it in opposition to a common market with China, or because they didn't want a president with a green card, or because they were independent swing voters. At the same time, why did 7.56 million voters not cast a ballot for me? Was it because they hate the DPP or hate President Chen Shui-bian? Because they like Ma Ying-jeou, or don't like me? Was it because they support a cross-strait common market or the 12 iTaiwan construction projects? Or was it because the weather on voting day so excellent? In reality, there's probably 7.56 million reasons.

Here's a clue, Hsieh: you ran a mere eight week campaign; spent six of them talking about a green card, which didn't work because you couldn't prove Ma had one and because most people don't care; you spent the next two weeks scaring people into thinking their organs would be stolen if there was a common market with China; your apparent about face on economic ties with China between your nomination and the election was awfully inconsistent; and you had no imaginative, innovate or inspiring campaign issues or slogans.

You miss this point again in the analysis of why people voted for Ma. Issues are almost the last thing you list. And just in front of 'excellent weather,' which makes no sense at all -- how does good weather hurt you?

And if you want to know why people voted for him, do some real polling to figure it out.