Wednesday 22 May 2013

Crack and Rob Ford

Many people, myself included, were opposed to the idea of Rob Ford being Mayor, from the outset of his campaign. Many of us worked under the assumption that someone this incompetent wouldn't make it very far down the campaign trail before he said or did something which would bring the whole ordeal to an end. Most believed Toronto would never elect such a seemingly racist homophobe in this century.

Politics is a dirty game and the main characters often act worse than a bunch of misbehaving children but Rob Ford takes top prize for childishness. Here is my case in point.  I mean really. That video starts out with a Toronto Star reporter acting less than professionally and ends with Rob Ford needing a new pacifier for his mouth. I have never seen a grown man act like that...and then get elected Mayor.

Yet, there were people who chose to ignore how he behaved (I only provided one example, feel free to cruise YouTube for more because there are plenty). Instead, many people with a flair for the right wing decided that his slogan driven single message campaign was exactly what Toronto needed. They turned out in record numbers - 53% voter turn out in the 2010 Municipal Elections. That is a shitty turn out by most standards but the two prior elections were 39% in 2006 and 38% in 2003. So a lot of people jumped up out of their EZ chairs for this one. Ford won by capturing 47% of the vote.

I understand that the previous Mayor was perceived as being a liberal "tax and spender" who was too cozy with the unions to prevent a massive and prolonged garbage strike. So it was no surprise when the right wingers of the city clamored for someone more fiscally conservative and less "lefty pinko". The surprise was who they picked to carry their banner.

Was there no one else who could be convinced to run a conservative platform? Actually, the whole group of Mayoral candidates tried to present themselves as the conservative candidate of choice (regardless of their past affiliations - I'm looking at you Joe Pantalone). There were a few other options but Ford seemed to connect with the "right leaning" electorate. Well, look at who you got. Not what you were expecting? I'd look a little closer next time, maybe the guy who thinks like you do but has a more nuanced approach will get you where you want to go.

But what do I know? I'm just a lefty pinko.

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Photo of the day courtesy of Reddit r/Pics

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