放言

The latest and worst example of choosing a political leader is no doubt Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

If Chen died in 1974 as a young lawyer (soon after he graduated with distinction), or if Wu Shu-Chen, his wife, were killed in 1985 by that truck (after Chen lost the election for county magistrate), the couple would always be remembered as heroes of Taiwan.

I begin to think of the poem <放言> of Bai Juyi (白居易):

周公恐懼流言日，
王莽謙恭未篡時。
向使當初身便死，
一生真偽复誰知？

And if Wang Jingwei (汪精衛) were actually executed after his failed assassination of Zaifeng (醇親王載灃), and leaving a poem like this:

慷慨歌燕市,從容作楚囚,
引刀成一快,不負少年頭.

I would fall for the later-to-be traitor if I were a woman in that era.