Recall a bad political move, says China Post

via Michael at The View from Taiwan, I see the China Post, not exactly a pro-Chen newspaper, has an editorial stating pretty much what I said in my hypothesis below:

The recall campaign is a bad play from the very beginning. Ma Ying-jeou, chairman of the Kuomintang who demanded President Chen to resign but didn't want to recall him, was forced by the hawks within the opposition party to join in the campaign James Soong had launched. All Soong, the PFP chairman, wants of the campaign is to stay in political center stage long enough to boost his chance to run successfully for mayor of Taipei at the end of this year.

Then, Ma the perfectionist has meticulously rewritten the bad scenario and insists it be followed act by act. The Kuomintang started to collect the signatures of at least eight million eligible voters who want the president to step down. The party chairman led supporters to take to the streets to call for the recall. That triggered the counter rallies of the DPP and the TSU. The opposition alliance held a series of public hearings on corruption implicating the first family and President Chen's top aides but not himself. All this isn't going to Ma's advantage, however. Although he claims seven out of every ten voters wish the president would quit, the public has responded very coolly to the collection of signatures -- less than one million signatures collected so far. The tide seems turning in President Chen's favor since Ma decided to join in the fray.

Be sure to read Michael's whole post about Chiu Yi, the man has has raised most of the corruption charges against Chen's family members and aides. Interesting how he perceives his behavior and what the facts bear out on the ground.