Taken For A Ride

So I'm in a taxi after seeing The Dark Knight on IMAX*, when a female newscaster on the radio fills the cab with a loud, childish, taunting voice:

"A-bian, uh!  A-bian**, uh!"

Followed by something in Mandarin, followed by more, "A-bian, uh!  A-bian, uh!"

Guess the lady's not too upset by the news that former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian (or his wife) was caught skimming money from his own campaign funds and sent it overseas.  As for former Chen supporters, the revelation must come as a bitter blow.  A-gu from That's Impossible sums it up well:

Remember, the problem isn't just the corruption. Chen stole from his own supporters, many of whom made sacrifices to make donations to his campaign.

Speaking of those supporters, for the past two years a lot of them have been defending Chen in arguments with friends, co-workers and family.  Their only reward now is to be subjected to an endless stream of I told ya so's.

Which says nothing of the legislators belonging to Chen's Taiwanese independence party.  The party was DECIMATED in the legislative election of '08.  Those DPP lawmakers stuck by their man through the recall campaign of 2006 and nearly all paid with their seats.

Not a nice feeling to learn you've taken an arrow for a scoundrel.

But what strikes me is the sheer stupidity and arrogance on Chen's part.  Let me illustrate what I mean with a little story:

One evening, way back when, I left a bar and got into my car.  (Relax -- I'd had only one beer which I'd nursed over one or two hours.)  Anyways, I drove about one or two blocks, then did a U-turn at the next intersection.

Suddenly, there's a loud screeching of tires behind me, and police car following me.  One a.m., and no one else on the road?  Yeah, they're following me.  My thoughts at the time:

Is it because of my U-turn?  Are U-turns illegal in this jurisdiction?  Did they follow me from the bar?  Do they think I'm impared?  What's the speed limit here?  It's a major roadway, so the speed ought to be a bit higher than a residential neighborhood.  But shoot, I can't see any speed limit signs anywhere!

So I slow down to 50 kph (or 30 mph).  Which might have been suspicious in itself, but I'm erring on the conservative side. 

Ah, there's my exit!  I signal and pull off. 

Holy smokes!  They're still following me!

All right, there's a stop sign up ahead.  No rolling stops now, I think.  No, come to a FULL STOP.  As I recall from driver's ed, a full stop should be held for 2 seconds.  Just to be safe though, I hold it for 5 seconds. 

One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand . . .

Now, the point of all this is that most people generally try to be on their best behavior when the authorities are watching them.***  The police were following me, and I didn't want to give them any excuses to pull me over.

What about President Chen?  Chen was being followed too - not by a single cop car but by a whole slew of prosecutors.  Prosecutors who were crawling ALL OVER THE WOODWORK trying to pin something on him. 

Maybe not the best time to take $20 million dollars in unspent campaign contributions and launder it through three banks into your Swiss account . . .

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*  Which is much better the second time 'round, when you're not dozing off from jet lag.

**  Former President Chen Shui-bian's nickname.

***  Acts of civil disobedience would be the obvious exception.