Taipei Times takes a cheap pot shot at former VP Lu Hsiu-lien

Towards the end of today's Taipei Times editorial "Ideology and the real political world", this "pro-localization" paper takes an uncharacteristic swipe at former Vice President Lu Hsiu-lien (呂秀蓮):

The problem with the DPP, then as now, is that it shows its ideological hand before elections at the expense of what voters want. With dire results hampering the party of late, its challenge is to attract support by tapping the concerns of a majority, gaining their trust and only then engaging wider ideological issues as necessary.

There was precious little of this understanding on show at a forum yesterday analyzing the role of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in today’s Taiwan. Former Examination Yuan president Yao Wen-chia (姚嘉文) and former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) gave speeches that indicate the older generation of democracy activists cannot deliver new ideas on how the DPP can appeal to those crucial votes that swing legislative seats.

... Lu argued that Taiwan operates on a political cycle of 30 years; after each cycle there is major change, she said, as if this seismology-flavored analysis was of the remotest use for DPP politicians 20 points behind in key electorates.

Ideology and a sense of mission provide undeniable energy and inspiration for political figures and their supporters. But the privileging of righteousness over hard tactics amounts to nothing more than indulgence, which is the politest word describing such behavior at a time of growing national threat.

What is the TT's agenda here? The forum's agenda was the role of the Treaty of Shimonoseki in today’s Taiwan, which seems to be what Yao and Lu were addressing. Why does the TT use this ridiculous-sounding soundbite out of context? Moreover, if one wishes to criticize someone (in this instance Lu for having no new policy ideas) but one does not propose something constructive (new policy ideas), then one is simply name-calling. That is what blogs do (more often than not), but it is below the journalistic expectations readers have of a serious newspaper, especially in an editorial.

So why is the TT taking this cheap pot shot at VPL? Is it trying to distance itself from the former vice head of state, like it has from former president Chen? If so, why?

Surely it is not because of the launch last week of her new "Formosa Post" newspaper (should i declare here my tenuous connection with that publication?, though in fact I've had many more articles published in the TT than i ever will in the FP), which aims to share (compete for?) a similar pro-Taiwan readership. Surely the Liberty Times Group doesn't see the underfunded under-resourced FP as a threat.