Final Word from Wednesday, October 30, 2002
What a sad time for the Czech Republic, a reader said in response to "Senator Železný." We have a president (Václav Havel) who's sick much of the time, a presidential candidate (Miloš Zeman) who's an alcoholic, another who thinks he's God (Václav Klaus), an ex-minister at the UN who's a crook (Jan Kavan), and now Vladimír Železný is a senator. Another reader wondered whether Czech voters really care who leads them. On the one hand, he said, they complain that crimes go unpunished, but on the other hand they vote for someone who has one foot in jail. Another reader said that Železný's election to the Senate is the single greatest tragedy and threat to democracy in post-1989 Czech history. Senator Petr Pithart, the reader said, should show that he's worthy of being president by personally leading the campaign in the Senate to strip Železný of his immunity.