The guilty verdict that he received on Sunday effectively ended his career, but the old windbag just won't take the hint and go quietly. Even when he was languishing in custody at the end of the trial, he wrote a defiant letter from his cell, saying that he would once again rise phoenix-like from the ashes. Painting himself the martyr and comparing himself to his father, Bo Yibo, one of the founding fathers of the People's Republic, he wrote that
"I was dragged into this and really wronged, but the truth will come out one day. Meanwhile I will be waiting quietly in prison. Dad was thrown into prison multiple times in his lifetime and I will look up to him as my role model."
Uh. Ok.
Bo's father was dyed in the blood communist who supported Deng Xiao Ping's economic reforms, but opposed any proposal to stray from the "democratic dictatorship" style of CCP rule - what would you expect from a man who was once Mao's swimming partner? While making his mark in economic circles, Bo's son misfired with the Red Propaganda drive which is now en vogue now that it's been rebranded by Xi "The Boss" Jin Ping. Possibly, Bo Junior is waiting until Xi passes away to make his move back into the limelight. From prison. In his old age. Well, God loves a trier.
Given Bo Xilai's obsession with the media, and making a number of apparently unrehearsed outbursts in the court that tried him, one can only wonder what he's up to. The smart thing to do would to be bow your head and take it like a man, but Bo seems intent on resisting the will of the Party to the very end. He's already been sentenced to a cushy prison in the north of Beijing, so why appeal the sentence that he probably knows won't be changed. Cementing his reputation as a media personality famous only for opposing the incumbent leadership isn't going to do him any favors in the future (such as it is), so what's with the new interest in painting himself as the enfant terrible of Chinese politics? Maybe he just wants a hug.
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