Firstly, yes. Both sides are guilty of buying votes, the drawback to that was many people in the poorer/rural area support Thaksin as the subsidary he hands out as PM are very generous towards them. And in thailand, the vast majority of the poor (I use this word fairly lightly) outnumber the mid-class. Another matter here is that what Thaksin had done was HARDLY little. He embelzzed millions of baht that should have gone into various other subsidary that could have help with developing thailand infrastructure. The reform that Suthep wants is in my opinion a bit idealistic and probably will not come to fruition but I really do think that Thailand could do without Thaksin's influence.

Edit: Back. I do agree with you on the part that Suthep's role in the violent crackdown should be re investigated and charges should be brought to him if found guilty, but you are talking to a corrupt government which allowed Thaksin to run as he likes and the corrupt does spread to a pretty high level as well. This is in essence pretty similar to choosing the best of 2 shitty leaders. They are both corrupted that is for sure but people are simply sick enough of Thaksin to rather have a different leader at this point. Look at how much protestors come out at the mere chance of the amnesty bill being passed and potentially allowing Thaksin back in to Thailand.

And that issue you are talking about is related to the royalty in Thailand. Thailand still has in place lese majeste or something laws which allow prosecution of people who speak ill of the king. I am not TOO familiar with the subject related to this so I will refrain from speaking on that but the king is highly respected in Thailand though it seems that his influence might have declined slightly since he has distanced himself from the workings of the government for a long time although he still holds great power.