2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Mayoral Race

[buildup]

Never underestimate a hog, they aren't pink slow helpless animals. They are big, nasty, and hunted by helicopter with military rifles.

The folksy stuff tends to over well in the US where "The American People" like to think they all share middle class values. So when some plutocrat talks to them about these things its re-assuring. Its stupid for actual middle class politicians to talk to actual middle class voters about these things. Especially in a more urban electorate.

 

[SJD_Toronto]

Karen Stintz won that debate, IMO.

 

[WislaHD]

Karen Stintz won that debate, IMO.

She was completely different from yesterday. She seemed more like the Stintz I've seen in council.

 

[salsa]

She was completely different from yesterday.

Sounds a lot like her changing views.

 

[picard102]

Heaven forbid someone change their mind. I'd rather someone stick to a decision out of stubbornness.

 

[WislaHD]

Councillor Adam Vaugan reacts to CityTV interview

"He made more sense when he was smoking crack-cocaine."

 

[Silence&Motion]

Councillor Adam Vaugan reacts to CityTV interview

"He made more sense when he was smoking crack-cocaine."

I know Adam Vaughan comes across as arrogant, which is why the Sun readers seem to hate him more than anyone else on the left, but he's such a great attack dog. I particularly liked when he said "the only similarity between Rob Ford and JFK is that neither one of them is going to win reelection".

I still wonder if Vaughan is going to come out and endorse Olivia Chow, since the two of them are former political enemies (bad blood during Vaughan's campaign to succeed her in Trinity-Spadina).

 

[Johnny Au]

See here: http://www.thestar.com/news/city_ha..._chow_deletes_the_most_facebook_comments.html

Olivia Chow had to delete over 300 defamatory Facebook comments. Not just that, but her Wikipedia article gets vandalized quite often as well, which led me to requesting semi-protection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip...ct.7Cdelete.7Clinks.7Cwatch.7Clogs.7Cviews.29

 

[the lemur]

See here: http://www.thestar.com/news/city_ha..._chow_deletes_the_most_facebook_comments.html

Olivia Chow had to delete over 300 defamatory Facebook comments. Not just that, but her Wikipedia article gets vandalized quite often as well, which led me to requesting semi-protection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip...ct.7Cdelete.7Clinks.7Cwatch.7Clogs.7Cviews.29

There's a thoroughly nasty strain of Fordites whose reasoning appears to be:

Chow speaks with a slight accent -> I don't want to hear that accent/That's not someone with the same accent as mine/I have trouble with accents other than my own -> CHOW CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH OMG WTF

 

[the lemur]

Councillor Adam Vaugan reacts to CityTV interview

"He made more sense when he was smoking crack-cocaine."

If nothing else, Ford has enabled many an honest conversation between parents and children regarding drugs. Just the other day my kid asked what it meant when people say they 'do' drugs. Thanks, Rob, for being such an easily identifiable example.

 

[JasonParis]

I know Adam Vaughan comes across as arrogant, which is why the Sun readers seem to hate him more than anyone else on the left, but he's such a great attack dog. I particularly liked when he said "the only similarity between Rob Ford and JFK is that neither one of them is going to win reelection".

Just thinking out loud really, but I do sometimes wonder if Vaughan would actually fare as bad city-wide as some expect he would in a Mayoralty contest. For instance, being arrogant worked for Ford. Also, holding to a few key positions worked for Ford. All I'm saying is that sometimes it's not even the position that matters in leadership, but being able to drill-down on it in a convincing way.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I don't think he would - as much as I enjoy his biting arrogance, it would not connect well with a good chunk of the electorate. Ford's arrogance works in a different way in that it operates by having demonized a certain segment of the population and subsequently discounts any opinion from said segment as irrelevant.

AoD

 

[JasonParis]

For what it's worth...

Forum Research Shows Ford's Approval Spiking

 

[ehlow]

For what it's worth...

Forum Research Shows Ford's Approval Spiking

Look at that power-pose body language lol.

 

[Johnny Au]

The personal attacks on Chow reminds me of when the PCs under Kim Campbell attacked Jean Chrétien's mouth. The attack backfired very hard, leading to Chrétien winning a majority and the PCs having only two seats (and Campbell losing her own seat). Interestingly enough, John Tory created the Chrétien's mouth attack ad.