We have a report from the fj.life.in-japan Dynamics Officer that CL has
exploded. Flight director confirms that:

>The 2-Belo wrote:
>> We have a report from the fj.life.in-japan Dynamics Officer that CL has
>> exploded. Flight director confirms that:
>> 
>>> The 2-Belo wrote:
>>>> In which I follow Seiko Noda around all day on her last campaign swing through
>>>> Gifu, attending two downtown rallies:
>>>>
>>>> http://the2belo.livejournal.com/497290.html
>>> Nice photies. 
>> 
>> Thanks! I had a great time freaking everyone out ("who the hell *is* this white
>> dude and why is the Ministeress of State shaking his hand? Three times? WTF?").
>
>And, if someone actually asks, you waggle your eyebrows and say 
>"Sometimes she visits my house in the evening."

And the thing is, she *has*. Twice. (NO, NOT THAT WAY. It was a community
meeting house visit, and it was mom-in-law's idea, not mine, and there were too
many old ladies present (as well as young ones such as my wife) so I couldn't
Put the Moves on a member of Parliament 10 years my senior even if I wanted to.
So I just smiled a lot and took eleventy billion pictures.)

>>> Shame about the outcome, in a way, but she had the chance
>>> to cross over to the Bright Side and didn't. Now she's a Proportional.
>> 
>> She still has a solid conservative base of support in this town, so I don't see
>> her changing her affiliations at all. Besides, this wasn't an anti-Noda result,
>> it's an anti-LDP result. *Everyone* got 0wn3d.
>
>I think it was a LOT MORE than that.  Seiko didn't get spanked in 2005, 
>but she did this time.  There is a message there that isn't getting heard.

Maybe it takes getting spanked once to wake a good politician up. Such setbacks
have been known to streamline people...

>>> She's also about one of three senior LDP lawmakers with anything
>>> resembling a good reputation that are left. 
>> 
>> And she's not an octogenerian prune-face, which means she still has plenty of
>> time to get back on the horse.
>> 
>>> I figure they ought to run her for party president.  She'd give ol' Mizuho 
>>> a good run for her money.
>> 
>> I'm sure there are still members of the Old Guard who think "we'll let a woman
>> run this party when the gavel is pried from our cold dead hands", but that too
>> will eventually change. Back before she torpedoed her standing in the party by
>> opposing the post office privatization bill, she was on the fast track to the
>> top, so I suppose there's still a chance of that if she can keep her head down
>> and not contribute to the LDP Gaffe Machine. She's been doing pretty good so
>> far.
>
>Take a close look at the voting results and you'll see that no one 
>associated with the entire Post Office debacle is still around.  Koizumi 
>is gone, along with -- I think all -- of those execrable Koizumi 
>children.  Sato Yukari, the "hit bitch" they sent to knock Seiko off in 
>2005, and failed, was dumped by the voters in her new district, too. 

Man, don't remind me. That entire episode just smacked too damned much of
backroom yakuza whateverism for comfort. I was glad to see Sato was sent
packing, both times.

And speaking of hits, note that last year Seiko's office here in Gifu was hit by
an arsonist, destroying everything, after Sato left this district. I'm not
saying there's a connection here. I'm just sayin'.

>Second, due to some serious pushing from younger Party members, a lot of 
>the old dead wood didn't run for reelection and most of the ones who did 
>were part of the acceptable attrition count.  The one's that slithered 
>through, like Nukaga and Yosano were "reelected" on the proportional ticket.

The term actually used is "resurrected". Some of those guys look like they came
back from the grave, too.

>So, you've got Seiko-chan, Masazoe, maybe Ishihara's older kid (the one 
>that isn't the failed actor or the failed bank clerk).  Just about no 
>one else is well known for any _good_ reason nor credible.  Most of the 
>old guys who are left got reelected in single-seat districts because 
>they do graft and bribery better than the opposition so the locals sent 
>them back.  

Mori the Beady-Eyed Bear, for one. He was one *crappy* PM but he still manages
to hang around. I don't get it.

>I don't know if that guy who did all of the verbal blow jobs 
>for Koizumi during his PM years made the final cut last night or not.  I 
>am hoping he didn't.  If he did, I am sure he'll try to run for Party 
>President.
>
>I'm pretty sure that your fears of a long rehabilitation are exaggerated.

However, I'm glad she wasn't being seriously considered for the PM job back when
they were vetting Aso, like some local rumors had indicated. I knew
instinctively that whoever took the reins at that time would have simply been
chum for the sharks -- note Aso's approval ratings -- so it's a good thing
*that* didn't happen.



-- 
The 2-Belo                           [the2beloATmsdDOTbiglobeDOTneDOTjp]
alt.flame  alt.fan.karl-malden.nose  alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk
meow                   a brimful of asha on a 45                    meow
meowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeow

"The 1980s will be the most catastrophic decade in the history of man." 
               
                   - Hal Lindsey