Election Season: When Everyone's A Jock!

The CNA through Taiwan Focus has found the journalistic integrity to campaign on behalf of the KMT:

Taipei, June 1 (CNA) The secretary-general of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) has agreed to take part in a triathlon Oct. 30, even though he will be running the party campaign for municipality elections at the end of November, race organizers said Tuesday.

In Taiwan, athletics and election stunts go hand in hand. Does anyone remember the ghoulish-looking Ma Ying-jiu taking his round island bike ride while crowing about being naked under his clothes so he could embarrass himself in front of someone's teen daughter in an effort to suppress his private image as a milquetoast, in exchange for a more botoxed and HGH-looking image of youth and virility? They've even got King Liu in on the charade to promote policies that threaten to undercut Taiwan's smaller manufacturers.

As we build toward the municipality elections, keep your eyes open for the bicycle to again feature prominently in electioneering and high talk of bike trails and green commuting to fill the ad space and party-owned news network coverage. Be sure to cast a cyclical eye toward all this posturing as there is only one real Taiwanese political athletic He-Man：