Defeated Mexican Prez Candidate Freaks Out

One good thing about the Hezbollah/Israeli War is that it has moved Mexico's increasingly fractious post-election whackiness off the world news. PAN candidate Calderon beat the populist Obrador by 233,000 votes, more than enough in a well-run election to warrant a seamless transition, one would think.

But this is Mexico, with a history of massive vote-fraud surpassing Chicago's, and Obrador is, to put it mildly, more than a little off his nut. Obrador's call for a recount is a political move that one can argue about, but he now claims that his nefarious opponent put "subliminal messages" in TV ads for potato chips and fruit juices. Yes, you read that sentence right!

Yesterday, Obrador's supporters surrounded Calderon's SUV and started kicking it and threatening the victorious president-elect. Of course, the US press to the extent it has got involved has supported Obrador, including one hilarious puff-piece that only a Pravda-wannabe like the Boston Globe could have allowed past the editors---the female Indian writer compared Obrador to a religious figure whose uplifting message remains the sole hope of the Mexican oppressed classes, or some such twaddle.

Actually, it might be in the US interest to have Obrador win a recount, as the resulting massive dole might keep the human traffic crossing the US borders to a minimum. Better to put them on a Mexican dole than to have them dealing drugs in the USA!

The NYT has put its tabloid two cents behind Obrador and a recount, even though the Mexican constitution does not demand it and Obrador's reckless rhetoric has incited near riots. The fiery Tabasco native has another huge rally in Mexico City's Zocalo, where an adjacent restaurant almost did me in with a near-lethal serving of ceviche years ago. In Mexico, I now recall, the politics can be as poisonous as the food!