Obrador to campaign from prison

Embattled Mexico Mayor Warns of Blow to Democracy

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's controversial presidential favorite Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday jail would be a dignified place for him to protest what he says is a political tactic to oust him from 2006 presidential elections.

Congress last week lifted his immunity from prosecution in a land dispute, a decision Lopez Obrador called a blow to the country's fledgling democracy, and in the days ahead he is likely to be sent to jail pending trial.

Obrador is accused of wrongfully appropriating land to build a hospital access road. He will be sent to jail pending trial. Seventy percent of Mexicans believe that the criminal proceedings are a political ploy to prevent the popular mayor from challenging Vincente Fox's ruling party in the upcoming presidential race.

Today the mayor announced that he would turn himself in and run his 2006 presidential campaign from his jail cell.

Comments

[SondraUNCC]

Why is this guy in jail for "appropriating land" for access to a hospital?
Yes, I think it spells conspiracy, but it could be on the part of the pres. candidate as well as from the opposition. Were there people displaced from the land that the road was built on? Often times this is the case. Often there is no compensation.
But I'll shut up now this is only speculation.
A side note:
To the blond at the top of the web page (sorry to lazy to switch to my own e-mail): Did you intend for your philisophical name to be read like, "Magic Thighs," or is there another pronunciation? I am obviously not a philosophy major.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

To the blond at the top of the web page (sorry to lazy to switch to my own e-mail): Did you intend for your philisophical name to be read like, "Magic Thighs," or is there another pronunciation? I am obviously not a philosophy major.

Yep. It's a reference to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in which Majikthise (magic-THIZE) is the philosopher who cuts the deal with the supercomputer to avert a wildcat thinkers' strike and make himself a pundit.

He's not a real philosopher and I'm not a real blonde--but a nod's as good as a wink to blind bat, eh?

[The Continental Op]

"a nod's as good as a wink to blind bat, eh"

I think its "blind horse" -- or at least that's the title of the great album by The Faces.

[Alon Levy]

The Monty Python line is "a nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat."

[Jerome]

And Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt. Not relevant here, but that's one of my favorite British slang phrases.

[Alex]

All this over a quote?

'Well, I never expected the Spanish Inquisition!'

[cookie]

What if DeLay gets indicted and convicted? You think he'll still get to conduct his House Majority Leader-bid'ness from jail?