"BUT who would you rather run this country?"

De Quiros:

"BUT who would you rather run this country?"

Someone asked me that question last week. The interesting thing about it is not that this was the first time I heard it-I've heard it countless times before. It is that a subtle difference in nuance had crept into its context. Before, when someone asked me that, there would still be some doubt about whether Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cheated or not, or won the elections or not. The context of the question would be: OK, granting but not conceding that Ms Arroyo cheated in the elections, who do you put in her place?

Today, when that question is asked, the questioner has no doubt Ms Arroyo cheated in the elections. That in fact was completely explicitly acknowledged by the person who posed it to me: "Of course, we know she talked to Garci and they doctored the thing," he said. "But still who do we put in her place?" That person is by no means alone to accept the premise of cheating. He is the norm rather than the exception.

That is the most astonishing thing that has happened to us over the last few years. Like I said in several columns, the question is not, or no longer: Did Ms Arroyo win the election? The question is, or has become: What do we do with someone who did not win the elections but is already there? That is the clear, if unarticulated, question staring us in the face today.

That's what most pro-Arroyo types are saying, and I've met a lot of them on the Pinoyexchange forum. But these people are the same ones who, before the elections, admitted na okay lang raw sa kanila kung mandaya si Arroyo, as long as hindi maging presidente si FPJ.

I assume most of Conrad's friends are from "civil society", so understandable kung ganyan ang attitude ng marami sa kanila diyan. And I'm pretty certain na almost all of them voted for Arroyo in the last election.

But I also felt na most of them didn't mind if GMA cheated -- as long as she didn't get caught. Kaya nga halos kalahati ng mga "civil society" supporters niya ay kumalas na sa kanya... dahil nahuli na si Arroyo, and they couldn't ignore the evidence anymore, plus the fact that they have their reputations and credibility to protect (magmumukhang tanga sila if they continue attacking erap on corruption while remaining silent on GMA's GLORIAGATE/"obstruction of justice" scandal.)

Kaya nga 80% wanted her impeached eh.