Thank you for finding and translating these articles, Courageous Inmate Sort. I think this quote says it all:
"I want to ask you to say no to regression in this election, to going backwards, to the loss of rights," added Dilma.
Also, have you read Ricardo Melo's column? (http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/especial/191539-aecio-perde-batalha-da-verdade.shtml)
I've tried to translate it, as I found it very interesting. Hope you can correct any errors!
Aécio loses battle of truth
The conservative's insistence on calling "lies" undisputed facts melts his own credibility
The phrase attributed to nazist Joseph Goebbels -a lie repeated often enough becomes truth- has been the preferred response of the candidate Aécio Neves and his team when facing criticism. The problem is when the truth, repeated a thousand times, remains true, without any counterpoint or contradictory fact able to contradict it.
The PSDB candidate has built an airstrip on family property. The key of the luxury was with relatives, which, incidentally, he hired many. All documented. No research, even made hastily, proved the necessity of that construction. This is not a private question. It is public money burned (wasted, spent) for personal purposes. There is an ongoing process for improper conduct. It is a fact, not a chosen and desperate whistleblower testimony, sorry, awarded testimony.
The government of Minas earmarked a fat slice of the advertising to telecommunications companies owned by the Neves family. Even the candidate himself doesn't deny. It's awkward to ask how he deals when the public and the private meet? It's brazilians' duty to discover the total amount, because it involves people vying for the presidency. "We do not record how much was spent," Aécio and his staff reply.
Documents of the Court of Federal Account of the state of Minas Gerais pointed alleged irregularities in the management of the current senator. The catalogue ("capivara" means a list of crimes and its codes commited by a person arrested) was mentioned during one of the debates. Hours later, the paperwork disappeared from the official site of the court, a public instance (!). Took Doril.(A joke based on an advertisement, meaning "to disappear") Disappeared. And nothing is done about it.
Evading the breathalyser and other little uplifting moments of the night life routine of the Senator are well-documented on the internet and printed media. They are not false, as well as the stand-up show associating the drug consumption of both Aécio and Maradona. Today the same artist poses as a supporter of Aécio since childhood. But he never denied the (validity of the) performance.
It's nonsense to say that bringing all this to the public is disgusting etc, etc. That shows the absence of arguments from those who don't have a retort.
Think about it: how many times have we encountered brilliant individuals (which is not exactly the case ...), with an erratic history whom we would be unable to point to a job position, even subaltern, in a company? There is no bias in it; only the desire to know who is the right person to the right post.
"Ah, but what about the programs and the proposals?", ask the usual puritans. Well, everyone knows what Dilma, Aécio and his right hand, Arminio Fraga, think.
Dilma for what she and her political party have done in recent years on the power. Aécio, for what things he and his team reveal in interviews and dinners. Things like cutting social spending, weakening of public banks, shrinking wages, unemployment in companies, rise of taxes, changes in labor laws and so on. The so called unpopular measures. For him, without these Brazil will worsen. Believe it or not.
With the campaign approaching its end, supposed rules of etiquette arise to hide the essentials. Smokescreen. The life and the future of millions of people are at stake. They have every right to know who intends to occupy the highest office in the Republic.
Polls are only polls. If we were to depend on them, the Workers' party would not have won in the first round in Bahia and Minas Gerais (states of Brazil), Aécio would not have the votes obtained in São Paulo, and the PMDB (Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement) would be out of the second round in Rio Grande do Sul.
The point is not to demonize who make the polls. The point is to give surveys the importance they deserve. More than ever, the first round showed that who votes has the final say, not those surveyed. In the same manner as is pathetic the tactic of stamping indelible truths as lies, recorded on video, audio and sheets of paper.
- somehow i've omitted the link, but latulipenoire ( 
) provided it with some puzzling extra info... (it seems that today was may "veteransnewnow" day!?)
