"'If he were just a street guy, that'd be one thing,' said Daniel Lund, a Mexico City-based political analyst and pollster. 'But he's one of the best political operatives in the country. His goal for the PRD is to deepen their roots and build electorally.'"

If this were true it would be AMLO being declared president-elect instead of Calderón. AMLO had the election in the bag just a few months before the election and showed us how to play it dumb and lose. "One of the best political operatives in the country", I beg to differ.

If you want to see what a responsible left does, read this:

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/373300.html

Lund needs to reach into his tool box before he sees AMLO again. Little Lopez has a few loose screws that need to be tightened.

For those who haven't seen it-- read Krauze's op-ed here in the Wash Post--excellent.

Our Dear Republic has been spared from the hands of a potential populist dictator. We can see him today at his best, exposing his dictatorial impulses by imposing a huge street blockade in the most important avenue of our country, disrupting the lives of thousands of people who voted for him.

I have loved watchin this develop b/c im american and dont have to worry about any consequences. Hopefully Lopez holds out and forms his own opposition govt and a civil war ensues. and all the illegals hear go back home to fight in it. Then both sides have heavy casualties and a new political party forms and prevails. And their population is so hurt immigration is no longer a problem for the US. SO everyone cross ur finger and hope Lopez starts a civil war.

"After those two speeches, Fox, after being humiliated Friday night, will speak at 8 p.m., followed by Calderón again."

Don't know what country this quote came from, but it's totally blind to what the Mexican on the street is saying, check reports in just about any paper except the Jornada. The percepcion is that the incident in congress was shameful, not that Fox was humiliated. Ceci, are you hanging out in the zócalo again?

Like the USA in 2000 the president was decided by rightist judges, not the majority will of the voting citizens.
The installation of Calderon shows how the fledgling Mexican democracy has learned the process from it's northern neighbor.
If Mexico truly wanted democracy instead of an installed ruler they would have demanded a full and total re-count of every single vote, no matter how long it took. Then and only then would the people of Mexico and internationally respect the truly elected leader. Now we have yet another president with no voter mandate, just an asterisk next to his name referencing his historic (Ill)legitimacy.

Yeah, "Calderon" and when you come down from your peyote trip maybe you will stop being such a sour puss and help build a better country or relationship between the two countries.

I agree with K Vrona, the majority of Mexicans were appalled at the theatre of Friday, and frankly all the PRD did was give a lifeline to the PRI, which is set to capture the leftist vote in the next election because of the PRD's immaturity. If the election was so fraudalent, how come there were so many PRD legislators hijacking the Congress of ALL Mexicans.

K Sullivan, wasn't it this very same tribunal that ruled to annul an election in Tabasco to favor the PRD? That doesn't sound like rightist to me.

"I have loved watchin this develop b/c im american and dont have to worry about any consequences. Hopefully Lopez holds out and forms his own opposition govt and a civil war ensues. and all the illegals hear go back home to fight in it. Then both sides have heavy casualties and a new political party forms and prevails. And their population is so hurt immigration is no longer a problem for the US. SO everyone cross ur finger and hope Lopez starts a civil war."

Great. You're a genius. By the way, how old are you? five?

AMLO has very good political operatives in the country, but being one of them is a totally different thing. He's just too conceited, too narrow-minded, too egocentric that he simply can't listen to his advisors and his critics. If the PRD lost the election was because of AMLO's egocentrism. He told Proceso magazine a couple of months ago "I am the strategy", "la estrategia soy yo". (remember Louis XIV, l'état c'est moi?)Of course he is going to be important in Mexican politics from now for the simple fact that he is going to be a pain in the butt for the next six years. Of course we should take care of him. But if he keeps moving to a more radical place, he's going to lose a great deal of his support. Monsiváis and Poniatowska have misteriously disappeared from his meeting and so has happened with many other intelectuals. I guess he's going to become somewhat like the Comandante Cero, he emerges to the public light from time to time, make some noise, and then fade away again.

"leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador waved their fists in the air, shot off fireworks and sobbed bitterly over his defeat."

I have to hand to the MSM. You guys really have your ducks in a row when in comes to "leftist" Obrador. You all joined in with the "leftist" label. It has been a sight to behold. He's about as leftist as Joe Lieberman.

And by the way, Obrador is not "weeping over his defeat." He is weeping about the fact that democracy in his country was stuffed down the crapper, while the entire process was ignored by the likes of The Washington Post and The New York Times. You should be ashamed of yourselves. You should be. But, at this point, your craven existence has demonstrated more than enough evidence to indicate that you're just another beltway toady and will never aspire beyond that.

The Washington Post and other establishment media in the U.S. sang a similar tune when they fed us the line that Carlos Salinas was the rightfully "elected" president of Mexico. Only later did we discover that it is widely taken for granted throughout Mexico that the man we signed NAFTA with actually stole that election.
And now, in a razor-tight race, in a country with a long and sorry history of voter fraud, in a place where numerous irregularities and ballot tamperings were uncovered, we are supposed to believe that everything is just fine, and that Calderon won fair and square -- without even a vote-by-vote recount?
Give me a break. In my eyes and in the eyes of many people around the world, Calderon will never be the legitimate president of Mexico.
If he was so confident he won fair and square, why did he fight tooth and nail to prevent every vote from being counted in a transparent process?
Enrique Krauze and his ilk may tell the Washington establishment what they want to hear. They will never convince Latin Americans or a majority of thoughtful people around the world who are remotely knowledgeable about recent Mexican political history that their man Calderon is the rightful president.
This stinks.
How sad to see a country that once showed promise of becoming a genuine democracy slide back into autocratic rightism of the sort that Latin America went through in the 70s.
And how drearily predictable that the Washington Post and other establishment media in the States are acting as cheerleaders for this travesty.

K Vronna,
Good point.
Was there a full recount in Tabasco?
Regardless, any legitimate election is one where all the votes are counted, not just a sampling of 9% and to top it off they didn't even release the full results of that 9%.
To me there is only one reason all the votes were not counted.

vulgarcito brings up an important point; the uncontrollable anger and aggression of some of the Coalition supporters. How many people who are just 'average José's' have been attacked by these fanatics. Case in point, Ariel Orellano, frequent poster at this blog who was cybernetically traced and subjected to harassment at his work. What about the famous, or should I say infamous hoster of the senderodelpeje blog? He has posted personal information of the persons who don't support AMLO so they can be located and attacked. What's so democratic about this?

The entire "vote count" was a sham. Apart from the PREP, there was never another count of the votes. Those highly-resisted recounts were partials -- very small partials -- that never failed to reduce Calderon's margin. In fact, the one and only partial recount after the PREP count, a mere 1% of ballots, knocked 13,000 votes off Calderon's margin.

The IFE, beholden to Fox, knew full well what would happen if the votes were actually counted without using Calderon's brother-in-law's software.

But why should we expect to see WaPo develop any interest in transparent elections in Mexico? They couldn't care less about the ones here.

K Sullivan,

All the votes were counted...remember July 2nd...when everyone voted?

The 9% "sampling" was due to impugnaciones by the PRD and PAN....although sampling is the wrong word to use.

Well, we do have to wade through some doo-doo here from time to time. We have the aptly named "Vulgarcito," with his deep analysis of the current situation and then we have the supposed gringo who calls himself "Calderon." It is noteworthy that his grammar and spelling in English is worse than that of any Mexicans posting here. Does the idiot really believe that a civil war in Mexico would not spill over the border? He thinks immigrants would go back to fight in the war? Ha!

But seriously, AMLO's plan to promote revolution could have geopolitical consequences and God only knows what the CIA and Pentagon are thinking about all this. Unrest in Mexico would serve no one's interests, except maybe the old invalid Castro and his equally decrepit brother and, of course, the Taliban and al Qaeda.

To think that as recently as a couple of months ago there were people upset because someone had suggested AMLO might be a danger to Mexico. Now it is clear he is a danger not only to Mexico, but to the whole free world.

Thank you 'vulgarcito' for depicting your profound resentment and violent tone as an example of what the PRD is nowadays. Thank you also to show that a respectable mass media as the WP did not restricted your opinion as extremists say about the 'votoxvoto' movement. I am sorry for the truly democratic members of the PRD and for the mexicans who really believe in reconciliation and dialogue.

nonsense. The US press needs to pick up the "Civil Rights Movement" theme and actually start investigating and concluding what truely may be happening to Mexico. Close to a majority of Mexicans live in third world conditions. While AMLO deserves much criticism for his lack of detail about how he hoped to cure Mexico's social ills, he does without adoubt represent a terrible frustration in Mexico. Call a Spade a Spade....

This is the Krauze article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090400699.html

We in the US cannot let ourselves be guided by more FEAR of how the political situation in Mexico might resolve itself. As long as we have countries, they should be allowed to work things out on their own. The fact that a revolution might soften someone's cornflakes here in the US is hardly a reason to interfere or support repression in Mexico. We in the US are so ultra-entitled to everything that makes us comfortable that we feel we have the right to interfere anywhere necessary to keep our "rights." We should turn our fearful eyes on ourselves and see how we support the rapid erosion of true freedom in our country in order to keep from feeling any change in our lifestyle - like driving 10mpg SUVs!

PR. you are right, the main problem in Mexico is inequality. The problem is how you bring about a solution to the problem. Radical free-market policies will not do it, but going back to 1960's and 1970's populism is not the solution either, and that is what AMLO was proposing. IN a way, this result is the best case scenario: a competent management of the economy but a NECESSITY to address the problems AMLO's campaign was all about... without the demagogue in power.

Right on, Sergio.
And shame on the Post for promoting this whitewash.
Every vote gets counted in a true democracy. Evidently, Mexico does not yet meet that definition.
One day historians will look back with disgust at how the U.S. and Mexican press fed this anti-democratic line to their respective publics.
There is a long and sorry history of voter fraud in Mexico, and the beneficiaries of it have been precisely the same corrupt elite that now backs Calderon.
If Calderon and his apologists really cared about democratic legitimacy, they would have insisted on every vote being counted in a transparent recount process. Instead, they fought that tooth and nail. What exactly did they fear?
You're right, Sergio, this "president" of Mexico is as legitimate as Carlos Salinas de Gortari was -- ie: not at all.
Only when every vote has been counted will we know who the rightful president of Mexico is.
Until that happens, Lopez Obrador and his supporters have every right - a duty, in fact - to engage in civil disobedience.
Nothing less than Mexican democracy is at stake.

K Vronna is absolutely right when she said the votes had already been counted in the established process following the elections.
I believe that AMLO was also right to hold doubts about the results and to use the legitimitate legal recourses to impugn the results and seek a more favorable result given how close the initial count was.
Both indicate a respect for the institutions that are charged with overseeing the electoral process.
But at this point, does it matter? Can we really expect him to accept any result that is not favorable to his ambitions?
The strength of Mexico's young democracy does not lie in a single person or ideology. As in other democracies, it rests in the institutions. Seeking to weaken the institutions, that the PRD and other parties opposing the PRI dictatorship have helped build up from the trenches over the course of the last 25 years, is a slap in the face to all Mexicans, especially those in the left whose ideology and politics have been kidnapped and destroyed.

"But at this point, does it matter?"
Uh, yeah, it matters a great deal. We now have an illegitimate president in office -- someone who "won" by fighting any and all efforts to recount every vote.
Calderon and his "presidency" are a fraud.

It seems the concept of "recounting votes" has been brought up again, but no one has quite pointed out an example in history where this "recount" process "worked" and successfully overturned the outcome. Remember the US Presidential Election of 2000? The mess with all the recounting in Florida didn't change anything, and people are STILL disgruntled that Bush won anyways (some claim Jeb rigged Florida on purpose for his brother, which could be plausible). So if they couldn't get a satisfactory recount in Florida, how do you think they could get one in Mexico?

Sure, a recount would be nice, but realistically, it wouldn't solve anything.

"Sure, a recount would be nice, but realistically, it wouldn't solve anything."

Except determine who the rightful president of Mexico is.

The Real Crime here is that Manuel Andres Lopez Obrador (MALO) is using the poor and uneducated as a weapon. Who ever thought he was Center left now knows the truth. He owes his supporters more respect. With his claim to be the strategy, he is telling his followers they are too stupid to think for themselves. He dragged thousands of people into the streets for weeks with no real plan. When it was evident no one was falling for his antics he turned to acts of stupidity. Sure he told his supporters not to resort to violence. But he did so with a wink and a nod. Now he wants to rule from the streets. What message is he sending out? Here is what he wants us to believe, 'trust only in me'. He commands a large audience, but he cannot lead them. Like a spoiled brat he whines and complains. Can anyone trust him to lead with dignity? Can some one so blatantly arrogant have any respect for the laws? He would try to re-write the constitution to fit his needs. We have seen him do it in the streets. We have seen how much he really cares about his followers. I hope that someone who camped out in the rain with him is reading this now. I hope they can reflect on what has happened and remember to vote with their heads and not with their hearts.

70% of the nation now oppose Lopez Obrador, if right now we had an election, a massive 54% of the nation would vote for Calderon.

It is clear what Mexico wants and thinks, every other argument disolves inmediately against these facts.

Top 10 reasons why Calderon is the best choice for Mexico:

1. First and foremost, Calderon will make sure that Mexico continues the trend set out by Echeverria, Lopez Portillo, De la Madrid, Salinas and Fox. What trend is that? The trend of a long list of accomplishments occurred in the last 30 yrs. of PRI-PAN government.

2. Calderon will make sure that 50% of Mexicans remain with an income of less than $1 dollar a day.

3. Calderon will make sure that the exodus of millions of unemployed Mexicans continue going to the USA.

4. Calderon will make sure that the lack of gains in science and technology occurred during the Echeverria, Lopez Portillo, De La Madrid, Salinas and Fox continue.

5. Calderon will make sure that Mexico remains a 3rd world country.

6. Calderon will make sure that none of the participants of the bank frauds committed every sexenio are brought to justice.

7. Calderon will make sure that the Durazos, Hank Gonzalez and Salinas are able to steal with absolute impunity.

8. Calderon will make sure that the income and social disparities between the Mexican north and south increase.

9. Calderon will make sure that millions of young Mexicans have limited access to quality education.

10. There has been absolutely no improvement in the living conditions in Mexico for the past 30 yrs. But thank God we have Calderon to maintain the status quo.

God bless you.

"Regardless, any legitimate election is one where all the votes are counted, not just a sampling of 9% and to top it off they didn't even release the full results of that 9%.
To me there is only one reason all the votes were not counted."

K Sullivan, it is hard for them to count all the votes for you if you forget to request a recount at all the polling places. As AMLO did.

Once again, Mexico's democratic left has been cheated out of the presidency -- or so it seems. Can anyone blame AMLO and PRD supporters from feeling cheated, when the right has put up such a fight to ensure every ballot does NOT get recounted in a transparent process? When so very recently, by all credible accounts, their former leader, Cardenas, was cheated out of victory by the corrupt pro-U.S. Carlos Salinas de Gortari?
Smug wealthy rightist Mexicans like "V. Arellano," above, can only summon insult -- "telling his followers they are too stupid to think for themselves... no real plan.... it was evident no one was falling for his antics... turned to acts of stupidity..." -- and are, as usual, bereft of real arguments.
Stolen election?
I'm not convinced it wasn't, knowing what I know about Mexico and its political history.
If Calderon thinks he's president, let him prove it by agreeing to have every vote re-counted.
Until that happens, I consider him an imposter.

Jesse, you are right but the cost was too high. Millions of dollars in lost business. Not to mention the aggravation we all felt. MALO can claim the vote was rigged, but for the past few weeks he robbed the nation. When will he stop? He feeds on the confusion he creates. What will happen when he has no clout? We have seen him deteriorate as a leader. His last fanfare before he fades will no doubt bring violence. If he loves Mexico, he should bow down, regroup, and run again in six years. If not, he does not stand a chance of ever becoming more then a major inconvenience.

I voted, did you? Wealth has little to do with it. Remember, only the rich ran from Cuba when Castro took over, now every one is running. If the left keeps taking over Latin America, guess where we will all end up...

Ok, let's don't be naïve and think this is it, the judges might have said their last word, which didn't change a bit from expected, but the people will have the last word, the problem of PAN, including Calderón, and PRI is that they have the control of the formal and "institutional" decision-making mechanisms, but they don't actually have the majority of the people, they know that and that's why they didn't want a full recount, in 9% of the votes recounted they found 120 thousand votes missing or extra in the boxes, when in the totality of the boxes the supposed difference between first and second is 240 thousand votes, for example boxes that were supposed to have 500 ballots at the recount had only 400 or 450 or 470, officialist version says that people took those ballots home, that many? incredible, but where they don't have an explaination is when instead of the supposed 500 ballots they found 550 or 600, what did they say then? nothing, there is no legal explaination of that, projecting these figures we see that there are one and a half million "irregular" votes, this elections stinks of fraud, and of imposition by the vested interests groups that don't want to lose all their privileges, they are sucking the country's blood, and don't want that to change, well, back to the point, this is far from over, September 16 will be an important day in the country's history, institutions have to serve the people and respect them, if they don't people don't have to respect institutions either, since they have lost their original purpose, what we need is a revolution, it doesn't have to be a violent one, but we definitively need to change this status quo that is bleeding the country, I'm a volunteer for this revolution, and I know many more, López Obrador is only the tip of a huge iceberg, don't mistake this movement as a something that will be over in one week or one month, not even one year, don't mistake López Obrador for a crazy messiah with megalomaniac ideas, cause u'r wrong, this is much more than that, this is a deep movement that it will change the way we do politics in Mexico, Fox just said that there is no problems in Mexico, that it is only one street in Mexico City, Governor of Oaxaca said some weeks ago that there were no problems in Oaxaca, that it was only a small group of noisy teachers protesting, well, you should see how Oaxaca is now, this is just beginning, bet on that.

Actually, Zapatamuere is outnumbered by about 52% to 30% according to the latest polling numbers about who people would vote for today.

Zapatavive, don't forget that the Vote was counted, Calderon won, even if by a small margin, he won. And if you want a war, you are out numbered by 0,58%. With figuers like that you should worry. I'm off to better things tonight. Well, I'll see you in the revolution.

MATT.org has a special online poll up this afternoon: vote on whether runner-up Lopez Obrador should finally concede.

And visit our blog for more news out of Mexico City today.

http://mexicanosyamericanos.blogspot.com

Wayne, I take it that you are against the fraud perpetrated in '88 in favor of Salinas. Would you like to know where to get a hold of some of the guilty ones that stole the election from the left? Try the zócalo, or in some of the more expensive restaurants in Reforma. They'll be consulting with AMLO, they are his advisors. The real left is located elsewhere, try and you'll find that left and leave a failed fascist caudillo to his sad demise.

Wow! that zapatavive post is one long sentence. Try a period or two to help understand a little better, maya0.

Vulgarcito, es el claro ejemplo del tipo de personas que quieren gobernar mi pais (politicos sin educacion). El PRD proclama por democracia! Pero es no la democracia universal que todos proclaman? Sino la democracia al estilo del PRD y MLO, lo demostro en la cd de Mexico cuando fue gobernador todos robaban a manos llenas y dejo altos indices de delincuencia. El PRD y todos sus lideres no ven el beneficio de los pobres, al contrario se benefician de los pobres para adquirir poder y desestabilizar a un pais que quiere el progreso y la democracia de la mayoria. PRD no quiere que las leyes se reformen o se modifiquen, por el simple hecho de que los afecta directamente.

Adam, can you point me to your poll? I took a look at your blog but could not find it.

K. Vronna, I don't think Wayne is a Mexican Citizen. He is one of the left over Kerry suporters who is looking for an outlet of his rage.

Now once I have that link from Adam, I can finally go to bed.

Interesting how the only place to register for the "national democratic fantasy convention" is in Mexico City. Afraid a few PANistas from the north might register? Or is "democracy" only applicable to the chilangos?

They have just announced that they have located most of the people who were involved in the fraud that robbed the PRD of the presidency!!

But

They were talking about the '88 elections when Cardenas was robbed, and the people involved, named Camacho Solis, Ebrard, Murat, Bartlett, and many others were eating at a 5 star restaurant with MALO. O well.

Only real Mexican democrats get to participate this time, not you fascist Norteños.

The rules are:

"Según el Instructivo para los Responsables Políticos y Operativos de la "Convención Nacional Democrática" a que convocó López Obrador, la meta es llenar el Zócalo con un millón 137 mil delegados, de los cuales el 30 por ciento vendrán del Distrito Federal; una cantidad similar de Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, Puebla y Morelos; y el resto de los estados de Michoacán, Guerrero, Tabasco, Chiapas, Veracruz y Oaxaca."

Hmm, I wonder how they are going to vote. Assuming they can get into the Zocalo, of course, which I somehow doubt is going to happen. (Courtesy of the Army.)

Only real Mexican democrats get to participate this time, not you fascist Norteños.

The rules are:

"Según el Instructivo para los Responsables Políticos y Operativos de la "Convención Nacional Democrática" a que convocó López Obrador, la meta es llenar el Zócalo con un millón 137 mil delegados, de los cuales el 30 por ciento vendrán del Distrito Federal; una cantidad similar de Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, Puebla y Morelos; y el resto de los estados de Michoacán, Guerrero, Tabasco, Chiapas, Veracruz y Oaxaca."

Interesting, no one from Queretero or Yucatan....I wonder why that could be...

If MALO ever gets into office, maybe he can look to Bolivia on how to deal with "enemies":

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060905/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/bolivia_thwarted_justice_lh1_2

Is Morales' wife Madame Defarge?

The PRD has to get down to earth. They lost the Presidential Election and they only have 23% of Congress and of Senate, almost the same as PRI and they have the DF and a few other states. They should consider what they have won and they should welcome whatever experiences they can learn from this election and look forward. There is no revolution, they have no support, their candidate only got some 35 % and the great mayority of those who voted for him will not follow him into any crazy adventure.

I guess the powers that be already have their hands full trying to convince their sheep that Chavez is such a threat to all decent people everywhere. They would be overwhelmed with another president that has other interests besides those of these plutocrats in Mexico and Washington.
My best wishes to all the good people of Mexico, some of whom I have had the great honor of knowing. I'm sure I speak for millions of people around the world who have had the opportunity to witness Mexico beyond the beaches. Caminamos juntos!

SteveK, caminamos juntos, los 65% que votamos contra MALO y sus fantasias...

I'm from the north of Mexico, very north, I don't belong to PRD, actually to any political party, I've happened to lose my faith in Mexican institutions, and I'm Mexican of course, I don't share the ideas of many people I know around here, there is a saying that goes something like what the eyes don't see the heart doesn't grieve for, if we're ok it doesn't matter that there are many people just surviving, I feel impotence for not being able to change this, I don't believe in the political parties, I don't think the solutions will come from there, there are too privileged to care about this, I feel angry paying my taxes and knowing they'll go to make thicker the pockets of some corrupt "public servants", but for some reason I think AMLO is part of the solution for Mexican situation, with all the arguments that have been held against him, I still think Calderón only means the continuity of a project that has failed for 20 years already, we need a change, as I said, a revolution, and, again, not necessarily a violent one, I case somebody is wondering, I'm not looking for a job in the government, I went three time to the rallies in México City, and I paid for my expenses, and know other people who did the same, the morale of this long sentece is that no everybody is in movement because they are hungry or looking for a job, or that only, although mostly, people for southern Mexico support AMLO, the support is widespread, the cause is fair, the movement has to stay until fundamental changes occur in Mexican politics, and that can take long

this election was a sham and decided long along by the ruling economic, media and political elites. the PAN is totally and absolutely corrupt, just like the PRI was before it and is now. calderon is president of nothing

Steve K.

Chavez is a threat. Here he claims the US is going to invade Venezuela:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4359386.stm

He is a nut job. Like Morales, Castro and out very own fruitcake MALO. Read before you post. Get out from under that rock that all liberals live. The weather is beautiful out side.

zapatavive: AMLO represents nothing but anarchy.
I like it, so the next time I need to pay my taxes and can tell the SAT they can go to hell. And if a judge declares I have to pay some indemnization to a person because I crashed his car, I can also tell the judge to go to hell!, to hell with all institutions.

I will wait for AMLO to come out for his daily "informative assembly" at the Zocalo and I will get direct and automatic amnesty for all my faults right there.

I was afraid none of this was going to be possible when I heard the TRIFE declaring Felipe Calderon elected President. But Oh! AMLO, he, the one, the only one, the unique, the chosen one, the master, the pure one, the only one that can really represent the rights of the poor and miserable and destituted peoples, AMLO has spoken again today and he has said in his infinite wisdom that he does not accept the resolution of the TRIFE and that Calderon does not have the legitimacy and moral needed to be the real president. Oh, now I know I can go back to dream I can get rid of all my contractual obligations, to hell with the Courts, I keep my house for free! I keep my car for free! I get a new one! I don't pay my taxes! I don't pay my suppliers! They can take me to Court, AMLO will protect me, AMLO and I will send the court's resolution to hell!.

Yes Jerry B, we know how reliable the counting of election results is in Mex.
What all rational people everywhere don't quite understand is what exactly was in all those ballot boxes.(although we could all give you a guess).

To K.Vronna, JerryB., V.Arellano and the rest of you uncharitable, biased, right-wing bloodsuckers with PMS (Penis Minimus Syndrome): I see nothing but macho posturing & malicious sarcasm in your posts--no reality, no objectivity, no novel ideas, no vision, no bravery. Face it, you're not the brightest lights in the harbor! Can you think & type at the same time???

Now zapatavive, he ROCKS--just like MayaO. They're prophets--and not of doom (except where it concerns greedy bloodsucking dinosaurs who are SO last-century and deserve it)--because they have vision and call a spade a spade, while you're selling your asses for 30 pieces of silver (along with your bankster & presstitute amigos on the right).

Unless someone speaks out against your cabal of capitalist parasites and their brainwashed, gutless middle-class wannabes, they'll continue to fall to the top of the pyramid while over half the country starves and justice & truth all bow down to greed, ignorance & cruelty.

It IS time to rebel. Let the evolution begin!

Oh by the way, just becuase i'm guy doesn't mean I'm not a man. i'm a man's man and i can give it as hard as i take it.

Boo hoo, boo hoo; how did you know, big, tough, revolutionary man that I didn't have a penis? We women are supposed to have penis envy, not PMS.

PS - Your new identity rocks! Don't worry, though, I promise not to tell who you are since your threats are so scary.

Actually, I am gay--what of it?

V is for Veronica.
And please, learn how to spell. That way, people might consider your opinion. Otherwise, oh who am I kidding, once they read what you posted they will know you are an idiot. But learn how to spell just the same.

When I said evolution, I meant evolution--that's no misspelling.

Ponce de Leon, if you are guy, sorry gay, what do you think of all the homophobic garbage coming out of MALO's camp?
BTW, what is a "presstute"?

Steve K, if you had looked into the ballot boxes before the election, you would have seen that they were empty. O yes, they have little windows on them so you can see inside, because the Camacho Solis and Munoz Ledo types that MALO is associating with are past masters at stuffing them when they were loyal PRIistas. If you had more knowledge of Mexico, you might have known that...And, apart from that, what do you think of the Reforma poll, election held today, PAN 52%, MALO 30%...?

"V is for veronica". Wow, I guess that means I have penis enough for three posters. I feel so much more a man...

I see mamy people that insist and continue to insist that the electoral office needed to count vote by vote, and that president elected, Felipe Calderon oposed to it. Nothing is farder from it, if the insignificant candidate from the P.R.D, have used all the legal chanels that exist, I belive the Judges may have agreed to it, but insted Lopez Obrador start with his defiances and calling names to all those that could have made changes in the outcome. Also all those that think that Andres is a smart person, they are wrong, what Andres is good at is to used the poor for his own gain and Mexico has much to offer, he tells people that all of their problems are becuse of the gobermant, and that he has the solution to their problem, he speaks as if he realy knows what he gets in to, people belived when he called derrogatore names to predsident Fox, call names to all those that do not agree with him. He is not a leader he is a user of masses. He is as insignificant as those that think that there was wrong doing in the vote-ing prosses in Mexico, I will say no more that the count of our Nation on the Bush - Gore. Presidential election.My name is Adolfo Torrescano Sr. mrt@bmi.net THANKYOU!!

"Homophobic garbage"??? Whatever do you mean? We're one big happy family down here in the Zocalo :-) BTW, I didn't write that ill-typed second blog attributed to me. I'm literate.

Presstitute (you left out the "i"): Get it now? Cross between a journalist and a prostitute.

jeez louise... where do all of these misinformed güeros come from all of a sudden? You're drinking from AMLO's koolaid and it shows. That's the only thing I'm gonna say, we've been over the whole subject 900 times, where were you then?

"one big happy family". I can only imagine. However, your big happy family seems to be suffering from shrinkage these days. What's up with that?

Sipping agua de horchata as I laughed at your blogs.

The "shrinkage" can be attributed to la gente humilde gathering in other plazas to prepare for the revolt of the masses (read Jose Ortega y Gasset yet?). As zapatavive said, "This is just the beginning...."

Jerry B, I think you are trying to paint a picture of Solis, Ledo and Obrador in bed together. Cannot comment on that because I don't honestly know. As for the latest poll, I have to admit my lack of knowledge when it comes to Mexican politics. Here I thought that the election a few weeks back was the deciding poll.

Arriba Mexico!!! Arriba el Yunque!!!

y mejor aun: Arriba Felipe Calderon!!!!

.... pero arriba de su mama!!!

Le sugiero a Ponce de Leon que le pase un poco de su agua de horchata a la K. Vronna ya que me parece que su esposo no le esta dando para sus tunas y por eso anda un poco necesitada de atencion, salud!

Camacho Solis and his bunch were all in the PRI in 88, and if anyone would know a fraud, they surely would. (Just ask Cardenas) The deciding poll was July 2, and Felipe won. Had he lost, any subsequent poll would also show MALO ahead, wouldn't you think?

FECAL, it has been scientifically proven that the more people talk about sex, or put down others over sex, the less they are getting. Maybe you should get to know Ponce de Leon on a more personal level...

Jajajajajajajajajajajajajajaaaaaaaa!!!!

"But it quickly became clear to Campaign Conexión that López Obrador was a different type of politician and his followers were prepared to do whatever he asked." -Not quickly enough, Ceci dear...

Browsing through your blog, the result is dismal: one would expect a higher level of literacy from WP's readers.

Anyway, please redirect civilised readers to Letras Libres, where a respected "left-wing" writer, Roger Bartra, has a few things to say about Mr. López' farce.

And -please!- could the WP protect decency and run a spell-check through these people's regurgitations?

Hurrah, AMLO's candidacy is dead, long live democracy! The people voted AMLO "fuera" because he refused to debate in the first debate, he did not raise enough money because he scared the crap out of everybody with his craziness, and Hugo Chavez helped him look like he was unpatriotic (thanks Hugo).
Now it should be time to start letting the PRD tear itself apart further into the violent radicals, the nonviolent radicals, and the moderates. The police will take care of the violent radicals. The nonviolent radicals will take care of themseves by continuing to make fools of themselves and to look unpatriotic, and the moderate left will either continue to be passive or take the PRD back from AMLO nut-jobs and their typos.

Calderon won the election fair and square. Deal with it. It doesn't matter how many people are gathered at the Zocalo and Reforma (not too many there lately, I walked by just yesterday and the tents were mostly empty). There are 20 million chilangos in the city. And most of us are fed up with AMLO and his thugs.
All you people sipping agua de horchata and craving for a revolution are barking up the wrong tree. This is just the beginning... the beginning of what? Do you really think that Lopez Obrador cares for anything else than his own ambitions for power? Have you sat to think of who is paying for all this? The capitalist oppressors are! The people that work and pay taxes are. So, on behalf of all of us that contribute to this society I would like to say you're welcome to AMLO and his goons. I would also like to add a thank you from all the Mexicans that used to work in and around Reforma that lost their jobs. I'm sure the local merchants, cashiers, waiters, parking attendants, and bureaucrats of all sorts, who, mind you, on average make no more than 700 dollars a month, were all scheming to undermine AMLO's campaign. Those dirty capitalist pigs!
When you get a chance walk past the camps in Reforma; better yet, go to any delegacion to take care of any minor bureaucratic detail. You'll find them empty-- many people in the staff at the PRD delegaciones are FORCED to go man the camps as part of their work. You can come up with any equation that justifies that, it's still the people who work and pay taxes that pay for those huevones to sit and do nothing.
All you revolucionarios need us because we actually contribute something. You need us even to subsidize your protests. I, as many other people, will allow it for now, because I choose to. There will come a day though, when we will say enough is enough. Parallel institutions can only go as far as what they can actually do. For that they need money and AMLO can only reach so deep into the pockets of civilized and hard working Mexicans. Mexico needs reforms, but AMLO is hardly the answer. All he knows how to be is a disgruntled loser; the target of so many complós.
Stop drooling at the sound of the word revolution children. Mexico needs to change, and we are headed in the right direction. Nothing would have set us back more than having an authoritarian, antidemocratic exPRIista agitator at the head of our executive branch.
And to the legislators that took over the Congress platform, you owe yourselves and your livelihoods to the people that elected you, not to AMLO. Start representing your constituents. HINT: If the elections were ever annulled, you lose! Count your lucky stars that your Don wasn't successful.

In all fairness there is something about the ruling that makes me uncomfortable: both Fox and the CCE's actions were deemed illegal, but tempered by circumstances. The question becomes, how much does someone have to interfere before it makes the whole election illegal? If you were to ask me it shouldn't be against the rules for the president to campaign, only for him to use public funds to run adds in support of a candidate.

I have to say that I think it is wrong for fox to support a candidate openly on the public airwaves paid for by the taxpayers, but this should mean a small punishment for him, certainly not an annulment of the election. Let the punishment fit the crime... such a small thing when more important things made up most mexican's minds. It's just ridiculous for the PRD to be so amazed that a president supports his party's nominee and worse to use that as one of the cheap, poor excuses AMLO tried to use to get another shot at the Presidency. for shame obrador, for shame.

To continue this debate, join here...
http://arielorellana.net/forums/index.php

"In all fairness there is something about the ruling that makes me uncomfortable: both Fox and the CCE's actions were deemed illegal, but tempered by circumstances."

Yes, dear: those "actions" were alleged by your hero, but they are not EXPLICITLY deemed illegal. Is it democratic to stop any person/group to express its view? If PAN had alleged the same about PRD's authorities... The point is: TRIFE only ruled strictly on allegations. PAN didn't play that game.

Ah! And another point: has anybody thought about "the rest" of the country, or just about Mexico city, Ceci dear...?

Good points from last couple of comments. Certainly something to think about. Just as Fox or whoever is president must be barred from campaigning, so must the government of Mexico City act on behalf of the entire citizenry to maintain order and ensure everyone's rights.
The PRD is just as guilty of using public funds to promote political agendas.
This issue creates an excellent opportunity to push a joint agenda that everyone can agree on. The only way to move forward and deal with this issue is if all parties work together on electoral reform. This could be a good starting point for joint collaboration and a way to build bridges at the start of the new government.
I think all parties can agree that independent unintrusive goverments that represent the people instead of the party are in everyone's interest.

Regardless of the late hour people engage in this "blog", isn't it strange AMLO-lovers have stopped their knee-jerk responses? Best wishes to Mexicans, they well deserve them!

PRD'ista AMLO es muy MALO perdedor.
Ya ganamos los modernos
y el dinosaurio Obrador
ya perdio
ya no es nada mas que perdedor.
Sigue sin violencia?
Sino, sigue su inocencia?
AMLO eres algo peor
Llamas a los otros lo que eres tu mejor
Eres un traidor.

drtaxsacto wrote a sep. 4 post in his blog about Cuauhtemoc vis a vis Lopez:

http://drtaxsacto.blogspot.com/

This is my comment:

drtaxasacto,

Fox might be a dissapointment as a president but he is no fool. He had what is an acknowledged major depression half way into his term and got out of his funk just in time for election madness.

As a campaigner he has few equals I can think of. His savvy propelled a third place nobody to a squeaker win.

He did it by fudging the rules just so, his plutocrat friends also helped. Calderon himself started going nowhere fast and had the flexibility to drop the wonky campaign platitudes and became a candidate of the people, a simple guy, just like us.

Lopez blew a 10 point lead by force of his own wooly psyche. The shows he puts on his Zocalo daily sermons attest to his rampant classist, neo- marxist chauvinism. This election was about HIM, not Mexico's present and future. He hung himself by his tongue, right in front of all at the Zocalo.

Cuauhtemoc once looked a lot like Lopez but had the grace and statemanship to realize that it was not time yet for real democracy in Mexico 1988.
Zedillo and Fox permitted democracy to be. After all, Calderon was not Fox's golden boy.

Cuauhtemoc is welcome to join the fun, he's not scary like his mucho loco Lopez comrade. In comparison he sounds almost panista in his sensible respect for the democratic process.

Will Calderon see the writing on the wall? The guy is as smart as Fox and if he can have the PRI,PANAL,ALTERNATIVA guys on his side, to hell with Lopez and his loony compadres.

A more interesting question is how long perdedistas are going to keep their "Ray of Hope" as their beacon (and all around just one jolly messiah) in charge of running the PRD. The circus is looking tiresome already.

Viper wrote this at Orellana's http://arielorellana.net/forums/

Dr. Taxsacto, Rodolfo, K. Vronna, emptyboxes, Lord Windsor, et. al.:

The main ideas of this string are really great:

1)Create the conditions to improve individual entrepreneurship in México
2) Develop the legal infrastructure, not only to protect shareholders, but to simplify the formation, financial feeding, and regulating of companies in their infancy.
3) And, focus on rural areas where, probably, the need for entrepreneurship is most needed.....

I differ a bit on nuances on these main ideas....

a) The venture capital model, does not necessarily work for these type of entrepreneurship activities. There already exists venture capital orgs. in Mexico, some of them created within the country (including high net worth individuals who have sold their legacy companies to foreign enterprises, and wish to foment investment);some of them subs of European, Asian, and American companies (Boston, San Francisco, and Texas) who are interested in fomenting mid market companies (between $100M to $500M capitalization); some of them are of high net worth individuals within Latin America interested in developing their investment profile in the region. These folks are interested in relatively established businesses with a positive EBITDA (Earnings BEfore Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization), to be acquired at relatively low multiples of EBITDA, and then hire management to take these companies to be turned over within a 5 to 7 year period to either larger companies or as an IPO. This means the target companies should be selling well over $20M dollars to be interesting to these companies.

But there are other ways in which entrepreneurship can be fostered: it has happened already among selling and distribution companies.....more and more large established companies are "outsourcing" the sales, merchandising and delivery to third parties who are well connected within local communities and can understand delivery to untraceable mom and pop retail outlets (As we know, even with the advent of WalMarts, Gigante, Soriana, et.al. a significant percentage of fast consumables go through mom and pop stores)...for example, in the 90's Gatorade developed its sales and distribution by establishing independent wholesalers and distributors who had previously never been involved in the business. Similarly, the new Cola in the market, particularly in the DF, Puebla and Guadalajara, has undercut the main Cola competitors via low cost production and an ad-hoc distribution system they built with local entrepreneurs. They would have continued extending this system into the beer business, had the beer industry not increased a special excise tax for new competitors.

Basically, larger companies may find it convenient to support entrepreneurial skills by outsourcing some of their more complicated, or localized activities.

This can also, of course, happen in the rural areas.

Fully agree that there needs to be more support for small companies in their legal battles against larger companies. A need for education is also paramount, especially in Managerial quantitative and qualitative methods. But also, research centers (focused on development efforts to reach the market)need to be fostered. My bias is to focus these research centers, outside of the urban centers, so that key rural areas can be developed, especially those close to shipping facitilities, either by sea, air or rail or road.

Rather than the government getting involved in all of this, Universities and businesses should be the triggers for these activities in my opinion.

Tie-ins with US and European centers of learning are also a must, I think.

Viper

CECI'S READERS, any comments?

Mexican (Real), whatever that means, in regards to your "Yes, dear: those "actions" were alleged by your hero," comment, you quite obivously have just come into the fray so I will not pounce, rather I'll invite you to look at previous posts of mine in other entries of this blog.

You presume to know my position and exhibit an aggressivenes that others who post in this blog but have a different point of view misconstrue into "fascist attitudes". be carefull.

A further thought on the issue I was discussing is that the PRD continuosly cites the Constitution as justification for their acts, even though they break the articles of the same Constitution all the time. So, can the same train of thought be applied to Fox's comments? Meaning, if he's using his Constitutional right to freedom of speech, shouldn't it overrule laws that prevent him from doing this?

With genuine democracy springing up throughout most of Latin America, it is sad and more than a little disturbing to see that Mexico has not yet caught up with the likes of Brazil, Argentina, or even Bolivia.
With a vote as close as this in a country with as corrupt a history as Mexico's, nothing less than a vote-by-vote recount can confer true legitimacy on the "winner."
Having fought such a recount tooth and nail, Calderon now lacks any such legitimacy.
He is an imposter, and Mexico will be the poorer for it.

Copy-paste comments... sheesh.

TEPJF: la elecion no fue limpia, pero vale

translation
Electoral court; the election wasnt clean, but its valid

That pretty much sums it all up

Stop referring to Obrador as a 'leftest'. He is a dictator attemtping to seize power, just like Chavez did. He has said that even if a full recount took place, he would not step aside if the recount did not favor him. He wants power and will sacrifice anyone to get it.

I would qualify that by pointing out that it wasn't clean because of behavior by both sides, something explicitly included in the ruling. I do have some concerns about parts of the ruling. we'll have to wait for experts to give us a better analysis.

Mexican (Real)... am I unreal?

Anyway. Article 28 of the General Law of Social Development says (my translation):

Publicity and information relative to social development programs should be identified with the National Seal in the terms mandated by the corresponding law and include the following legend: "This program is public, non-partisan. It is forbidden its use for purposes other than social development."

The Mexican Supreme Court ordered the Executive to stop transmitting spots suggesting that continuity was good for the country, without the legend mandated by law. Transmission of such unqualified, partisan spots was ILEGAL. TEPJF acknowledged that, but cannot tell how much it influenced voters. So they acted as bureaucrats and disregarded the allegation. Nothing to do with freedom of speech. Ignorance or disingenuousness?

There is a discussion about Mexican politics over in http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/09/05/DI2006090500972.html

mayaO,

The Court decision was that the election was not perfect but did not merit annullment.

The Coalicion raised political arguments not electoral law matters. The court said the merits of the Coalicion arguments were not proven on legal grounds, their arguments were of a political nature not based on legal proof.

In court an accusation without concrete lawful evidence is treated as anecdotal and discarded as a matter of course.

Looks like were all jumping 2 another blog.

Antonio your comments are simply stated and ring true. The issue is not if Obrador "would have been a dictator or a...." the issue is if the will of voting Mexicans was truly expressed in the final outcome. It looks like just another hijacking.

AMLO is correct to fight on; his supporters have a right to be hostile, no matter how it appears to anyone else. Al Gore did NOT fight in Florida 2000, and look what happened: thousands of people died needlessly (in 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq & Lebanon), mostly civilians (including women & children). And the U.S. Constitution and democratic laws are still under threat.

People weren't aware back then that they were dealing with fascists--a corporate-controlled government who would spread its poison globally, including to Mexico! But more & more people are seeing clearly just who we're dealing with here, although it may be too late to avoid a revolution or civil war. Is that what you want for Mexico?

We had hoped that Mexico would take the higher ground and run the money-changers out of the temple. Instead, it's an exact repeat of Florida 2000 (and even the Bu$h "re-election" in 2004, when John Kerry also didn't fight back).

And OF COURSE Calderon is now calling for "concilation!" It's in his best interests. What he really means is for the ragged exploited jodidos to bow once again to fascist interests--and either starve or hightail it to the U.S. where Bu$h's minions will greet them with open arms--ready to exploit them all over again. They're all grateful to have the CHEAP labour of these undocumented workers, who will still be working for substandard wages, paying U.S. taxes and getting no benefits in return, and no future. Even though they may earn more than they did in Mexico, they're also spending it all on higher rents (often for substandard living conditions) and remittances back to Mexico to feed their hungry families there.

Ask yourself: Why ARE there "legions of poor" to follow AMLO? And WHY doesn't Mexico, a country so rich in natural resources, have enough to care for these people? The truth is, it DOES! But the pesos are jingling in the pockets of the rich fat cats, just as they've jingled since the Aztecs were deposed.

No, it's definitely time for change--time to redistribute the wealth. There's sufficient for everyone. The fat cats will be on the run soon--time is against them!

There is an interesting software that teachers can use to detect plagiarism. What would that program detect here in this blog? That some people have been posting under different names is only symtomatic of the desperation of AMLO supporters to create the perception of an army of malcontents when what we have is the cyberworld equivalent of the empty tent-city.

All you guys are complaining about the TRIFE's acknowledgement of irrgularities like Fox's intervention and and the spots by the CCE. The TRIFE didn't consider them determining on the election for one reason alone: the TRIFE trusts in the voters' freedom and intelligence.

You all pro-AMLO supporters think that people is retarded, right? That some spots on tv are going to change their intention to vote. That if Maribel Guardia in her TV show says she's going to vote for Calderón a lot of dumb sheep is going to follow. That if president Fox say that everything is wonderful in Mexico, 4 million brainless people is going to buy it.

The TRIFE believes, and I'm with them on this, that people is smart, they have thought their vote, they made a decision and no one put a gun to their head to make them vote for Felipe Calderón. There was no fraud. Simply, 200 000 people liked Calderón better than AMLO and in a democracy elections are won by one single vote. Would you like to know where are all those votes AMLO supposedly "lost" on July 2? Why don't you check out on the PASC where a lof ot modern and moderate leftist (myself included), tired of AMLO's anarchic antics, set their hopes for the future.

AMLO is the one who failed to convince people. AMLO is the one that failed to develop a better political campaign, the one who chose not to be at the first debate. AMLO is the only one responsible for his party's loss. Stop blaming it on anything that moves.

Yesterday, Lopez Obrador declared:

"mi decisión es la de rechazar el fallo del Tribunal y desconozco a quien pretenda ostentarse como titular del Poder Ejecutivo federal sin tener una representación legítima y democrática".

With that argument, he can't recognize himself either, so ¡AL DIABLO CON LOPEZ OBRADOR!

Following Mr. Non Sequitur's logic:

LOPEZ OBRADOR LOSES OR CALDERON WINS!

Either way, el Peje should return to his motherland and write his memories.

I would argue that Ceci has been using false nicknames to push Lopez Obrador's agenda. I defy her to openly deny this!

And for Lopez Obrador's followers:

SORRY GUYS, NO LOVE, ONLY SWEAT AND TEARS!

GO AND GET A JOB AND MAKE A LIFE OUT OF IT!

I read the comments posted in the last two days, and I have some questions for those who claim that Calderon will be an 'illegitimate president', because he opposed recounting the votes:

- Do you realy believe Lopez Obrador's claim that he won by 500,000 votes?
- What is the basis of his claim if the whole process was a 'cochinada'?
- Saying ¡al diablo con las instituciones' is a good proof that Lopez Obrador is fit to exercise the post of President?
- Will the decisions of a bunch of 'iliterate acarreados' to the so called 'Convencion Nacional' would be enough to replace the vote of more than 40 million mexicans?

If your answers are 'yes', there is nothing to argue. Either you are dumb or you are childish!

All the crisis ignited by Lopez Obrador resisting to recognize his defeat, is an empirical proof that he really is crazy and still could become ¡UN PELIGRO PARA MEXICO!

El Oso you got your facts all wrong. In 2000, both candidates in the US went back in forth demanding to recount the ballots. The whole mess was because neither wanted to back down.
Your logic implies that the candidate who puts up the most unsettling post-electoral fight should win the race. That's what your parallel system will probably be based on. In our current system, the voters decide who win, not thugs and acarreados.
Besides, by your own measure, the controversial recount in Florida is more equivalent to a recount at a couple of municipios than an entire national recount.
Get your comparisons straight.

One last thought before closing the shop:

PEJE, GET LOST FOR GOOD AND FOREVER!

¡NUESTROS HIJOS TE LO AGRADECERÁN!

Top 10 reasons why Calderon is the best choice for Mexico:

1. First and foremost, Calderon will make sure that Mexico continues the trend set out by Echeverria, Lopez Portillo, De la Madrid, Salinas and Fox. What trend is that? The trend of a long list of accomplishments occurred in the last 30 yrs. of PRI-PAN government.

2. Calderon will make sure that 50% of Mexicans remain with an income of less than $1 dollar a day.

3. Calderon will make sure that the exodus of millions of unemployed Mexicans continue going to the USA.

4. Calderon will make sure that the lack of gains in science and technology occurred during the Echeverria, Lopez Portillo, De La Madrid, Salinas and Fox continue.

5. Calderon will make sure that Mexico remains a 3rd world country.

6. Calderon will make sure that none of the participants of the bank frauds committed every sexenio are brought to justice.

7. Calderon will make sure that the Durazos, Hank Gonzalez and Salinas are able to steal with absolute impunity.

8. Calderon will make sure that the income and social disparities between the Mexican north and south increase.

9. Calderon will make sure that millions of young Mexicans have limited access to quality education.

10. There has been absolutely no improvement in the living conditions in Mexico for the past 30 yrs. But thank God we have Calderon to maintain the status quo.

God bless you.

el oso baboso,

You think 9/11 happened because kerry did not win? You are the biggest idiot here. The title goes to you. Of all the stupid things submitted to this blog yours is the dumbest. You are the type of person that makes the left wing sound like rating psychos. Go camp out in the rain with MALO. And when your messiah proclaims he is the real president of the people, you make sure to follow him. He can rule in the streets, you can live in the streets. I am starting to see an up side to this. Be sure to wear your party's color every day of the week so we know you are an idiot from far away and do not have to waste our time talking to you to figure it out. As you sit out in the rain listening to the gospel according to MALO, ponder your life. Reflect on how much better off you are for worshiping him. MALO is a looser, making you a bigger looser for following him.

TOP 10 Stuipd things said about the election. You don't even live here. Go back to crying about Al Gore and Jonny Kerry. Don't worry, you will have your chance again in '08 to vote for Clinton. But keep your nose out of our business.

Interesting, bunburina. If TV spots don't have any effect on smart people... Can you explain why political parties (legally) and Fox and CCE (illegally) spent millions of pesos in paying for their production and airtime? Is this the "modern-leftist" way of thinking?

K. Vronna, I'm not sure that I understand your beef. What if somebody uses more than one pseudonym? Do you truly believe that the crew posting here representative of the Mexican population? Dream on. On the other hand, I thought that you were smarter than those who base their opinions on what the biased TV reports... Empty camps. Close to emptyboxes claiming that camps smell bad... writing from Monterrey. Where is truth, logic in some statements, I wonder?

El Oso, the Aztecs were the fat rich cats of thier time

Nice civility, V. Arellano and Living in Mexico. Your arrogance, typical of the right-wingers, is one main reason why Calderon and followers are despised. Keep adding fuel to the flames...

pasilla,

Despised, but winning elections. Adding fule to the flames is why I am here. Think I would let the undereducated left wing have it's day in the sun? Not in the voting booth, not in this blog, not in your dreams. And in your dreams is the only place MALO is the people's choice.

I would like to pose some questions for consideration, whether you believe that the election was a fraud or not, whether you think AMLO is a saint and savior or a dangerous lunatic, what should the government of Mexico now do about these protest encampments?

How long can a government permit something like this to go on? Also-- Is there no recourse for the taxpayers of DF who are being made to foot the bill for this big encampment? Can the government of DF continue to use public funds for this political action? Is there no way President Fox can seize control of the city police force so that law and order can be restored?

Goyo,

On 9/16 the Mexican army will be in the Zocalo. Like it or not, MALO will have to step aside. Nobody can take that away from Mexico.

V. Arellano:

Your "lucid" comment doesn't answer Little Goyo's questions; of course he would favor certain answers to appease his ever-present hysteria, like the "strong hand" of which so irresponsibly has spoken Felipe I... By the way, who is MALO? Pseudo-cuteness in the face of the dryness of the well of ideas...

Dammit! It does happen so often! The left calls the right wrong and bad, and the right invariably call the left uneducated. True or not, nobody is going to solve anything that way. Nobodys man has the majority of the population behind them. Come on people, constructive solutions. righties, you can't just keep calling the left uneducated and ignore them. Lefties, try and get some leverage out of the situation that can help your own political agenda without violence and fit throwing. But parrallel governments? Does anybody have any numbers on how many people died in the Mexican Revolution? And it didn't get rid of Mexico's problems anyway.

Tax Drifter:

I hope that Fox is a man of his word; he has declared that he will not order the Mexican Army to repress the Mexican People. The weapons are in one side only...

Rumor has it that one million Mexicans died during the Revolution, but nobody knows for sure...

I hope that fox's promise not to use the army encourages the really crazy ones to start making real trouble, then get scooped up by the police. That would be great, because then the debate could evolve into one between contructive solutions from the left and right that may influence the type of reforms put forth by PAN and the PRI. Finally some change after the PRD and PRI used to block everything. Let's get some reforms and try something new for once. Encouraging entrepreneurilaism like was posted earlier, let's not forget encouraging private sector growth and jobs, improving tax collection, investing in the nation's future... dare we dream already of growth like Asian Tiger countries experienced or like China is experiencing lately?
I say let Perdedor aka MALO be brought down by the hand of the law. I do hope the reasonable people on all sides are ready to work together though. The politicians should be listening to the latest polls, Mexicans support Cardenas' cooperation and centrism. Everyone wants the best for Mexico. Let's try real reforms now and break the stalemate of the last 6 years. The people want real and reasonable change... modern solutions about business and growth... not old and false solutions of handing out goodies.

"Interesting, bunburina. If TV spots don't have any effect on smart people... Can you explain why political parties (legally) and Fox and CCE (illegally) spent millions of pesos in paying for their production and airtime? Is this the "modern-leftist" way of thinking?"

Pasilla, politicians also think that most people guide themselves with TV spots. It is an old PRI kind of attitude. Most people find tv spots to be fun to watch but they think they are obviously biased and they don't take them as truth. Of course, there is a minority that will always fall for it, but most people are already supporters of a party and no TV spot is going to change that. The PASC barely had a few TV spots and they still got a quite decent number of votes for a new party. It is a dumb generalization to believe that people actually vote on the basis of what they see on TV.

And please, don't fool yourself, the party that has the most air time record of the campaign is the PRD. The PAN, even with the CCE spots, are still under the PRD's air time record.

The Mafia has won again, hooray!

What I don't understand about the people that support Calderon with such fervor is the cruel irony that they are voting against their own interests. I mean, they all seem to be members of our besieged middle-class, of course there might be a few bona fide oligarchs in there (thirty? fifty?), but the great majority seem to be clasemedieros. The quasi-permanent and ubiquitous propaganda against the opposition was designed to confuse, frighten and divide the population so they would vote more out of fear than out of hope. Why? Well, look at the record of the PAN and the PRI's* economic policies. It is not good. It is dire in fact. To witness: massive increase in poverty and emmigration; increase in criminal activity, yes, Mafia; record numbers of journalists assasinated; a whopping increase in debt; the simulation of justice that exonerated all of the the "big fish"; the release of the "capo del sexenio" M. Chapito Guzman and the growth of the Cartel de Sinaloa; record amounts of dirty money laundered in (now foreign-owned) banks (30 billion US$ a year); record growth in unemployment and underemployment; the shrinking of the social "safety net"; the privatization of aid (debt) and the socialization of the costs (more debt); the same old political misuse of programs like Oportunidades; the increase both in cost and in number of government TV and radio spots (de facto funneling of hundreds of millions of taxpayer pesos to the Televisa oligarchy); the insulting enrichment and cost to the taxpayer of the "upscale" presidential family; the proclivity of the president to do business "en lo oscurito" and only later do we find out what exactly he has been signing in our name, if ever (ASPAN, Pasta de Conchos, Chevron Rosarito refinery, abrogating "en privado" the TV and Radio law that has made Televisa rich beyond their dreams); the ever more common use of the "informacion reservada por 12...15...25 años" label to hide operations, eluding accountability; and a long, long list of etceteras.

Point is, Mr. and Mrs. clasemediero, are you better off today than you were ten years ago? Six years ago? Is your family wealthier today? How's your salary? Your degree of indebtedness? How does your children's future look today? As a small enterpreneur, can you compete better today, or worse? How is your clientele? Are they increasing their income, thus buying more from you? How's the bank, are they helping you out more? Or less? How's the competition? Is it getting smaller? Or larger?

Look around. The middle class is being squeezed and indebted. The lower percentile has fallen off the rung of "middle" and is sliding towards the "baja" label. Of the 2.5 million men and women that have been able to escape to the US illegaly, how many you suppose were college educated, lower middle class Mexicans? If the Border Patrol reports that of every four who try to cross, three are caught and one passes through, the real number of Mexicans that have tried to escape the paradise that the PAN has built is more like 10 million in the last five years. Think about it. Of the 100 million citizens, you take off the 40 million under-18 category, plus, say, another 10 million elderly, that leaves you with 50 million working-age citizens. In the last five years, 20% of the workforce is trying to leave the country and 5% has succeded. Imagine if this happened in the US. In five years something like 30 million people wanted to leave but "only" 8 million succeeded. I would call that an unmitigated disaster. It is.

Understandably, the PAN does not want to confront the sad reality of the Mexico they worked so hard to create, thus, rhetorically and strategically, the election had to run on the "gut-level emotional" dimension of fear and not in the rational and enlightened dimension our citizens deserve . Thing is, rhetorics never trumps reality. If in reality us Mexicans had increased our standard of living, if more jobs had been created for example, none of this would have happened. We would all be singing praises for the PAN, for Fox and for Calderon. Happy, nay, ecstatic to elect them again. But this is not the case, bien au contraire. This government, and I include the last four PRI presidents in this category, has been nothing if not a colossal failure in regards to the vast majority of the population of Mexico. You read right, for the vast majority. Facts speak for themselves.

In these times of uncertainty only one thing is certain at this point, besides the sun rising from the e