Thaksin Shinawatra had promised to give "the best-ever statement" at tonight's "Red Rally" at the National Stadium. But his pre-recorded speech was far from impressive. It was nothing more than a repeat of his old complaints -- that he was being politically persecuted.
Yes, he did use a few phrases aimed at dramatising his plight. Thaksin likened himself to a "cornered dog" with no way to go. In a thinly-veiled reference to Newin Chidchob, his former right-hand man, Thaksin said "some politicians are now betraying the public by voting for the other side while they try to bury me alive..."
He cancelled his much-hyped live phone-in apparently because Snoh Tiantong, leader of Pracharaj Party and Pracha Promnok, head of the Peau Paendin Party, had asked him to hold that one off so that Snoh could nominate Pracha as a candidate for the premiership in the House on Monday. Pracha will become his third "nominee" to be premier after Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat. But this time the opposition Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva may defeat Thaksin's man.
All in all, tonight's event, despite the frantic attempt to promote it as a "make-or-break" move for Thaksin's Peau Thai Party to turn the political turn in its favour, did not produce the kind of impact the organizers had anticipated.
Thaksin did not deliver a knock-out blow.
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