Listening to my wife and many other Taiwanese I spoke to, you would have thought that last Saturday's election triumph for the KMT was for the presidency and not the legislature. Their grievences were vague but intense and all had Chen ( President Chen ) as the common denominator. No matter that the pan-blue camp ( 泛藍營 ) of the KMT and PFP has had the legislative majority since Chen's first term. No matter that Chen was elected as president, not selected king, and had to deal with a hostile opposition. No, it was all Chen's fault. I asked my wife to make a list of three specific complaints she had and two expectiations she had for the new pan-blue legislative behemoth. I am still waiting.

Chen and the DPP were not saints, saviors or savants. They were, and are, politicians. Their tactlessness on many issues just increased the Taiwanese voters' tendency to view politics as a battle of personae and not issues.

Enter the Persona-to-be-in-Chief, the presidential frontrunner of the KMT, Ma Ying-jeou. On Thursday he asked the public to play the political futures market. For eight years of the presidency he will give Taiwan 100 years of peace and stability.

Always needing more number-titled policies ( easier to score at home), he unveiled his 3 Noes: no pursuit of unification, no Taiwanese independence and no use of force ( He doesn't like force, and you wouldn't like him if you force him to face the use of force - [I will] object to the use of force by either side of the Taiwan Strait to unilaterally change the status quo). Lobbing (unarmed) missiles across the strait doesn't count. He culminated by getting down to brass tacks by vowing to "uplift" and "upgrade" the nation's democracy. Now that, is a plan. Even if it doesn't have a number.

These remarks came from a speech in Taipei sponsored by the the New Taiwanese Foundation and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. I have not yet found any transcript or mention at either site. Here are reports from the Taipei Times and The China Post. Ma conducted the speech in English, so the Times account is probably more accurate.