Since Doug Ford has his own thread now, I'll respond to a post in the Rob Ford thread here.
Yes I do, and I do know what you mean. And if one of my brothers died from cancer the last thing I'd do is continually dredge up his memory to score cheap political points.
You do make a good point though - as long as the memory of Rob is fresh in people's minds, Doug won't be doing himself any favours by constantly reminding people of him. Donald Trump south of the border won't be helping his case either, since Doug Ford is basically a low rent Trump.
Mentioning Rob is one of the best political strategies for him. First Doug doesn't have the same "everyday guy" demeanor that Rob had so he needs to latch on to as much old Rob support as possible. Many residents were beneficiaries of Robs interesting style of returning calls, and showing up to people doors. I seriously have a 70+ old neighbour who had her driveway torn up by a contractor and after a year of getting the run around by the local councillor and contractor she called Ford. The guy showed up at her door. Half they neighbourhood wanted to throw eggs at him, the other half was in awe. Problem was solved within a couple weeks. You think these people that were helped or witness someone getting help cared about the personal life or his Politics? I'm not advocating for whether this approach was right or wrong, but trust me when I say for a Mayor to do this stuff to people getting the run around, he instantly becomes a hero. I hear this went on quite a bit elsewhere in his early days before the major meltdown. Doug doesn't have this same approach and persona and needs to squeeze the Rob lemon from all its worth. If he can get these emotions from these people that received calls or met the guy to get out to vote, Its a good strategy.
Both Trump and Ford have approximately a 20-30% "anti system" base that is almost unmovable in todays society and any support they can obtain above that will be drummed up by free exposure from being a "circus" show. When the media starts comparing the two, it will only help get him free exposure and for these type there is really no bad publicity anyway. You either hate everything about them already or you have some issues with the "system" and they will give you a volatile conduit to latch on to should something resonate or the media hate be too much, and people start to feel sorry for these types. I think Ford really wants to be associated with Trump for this very reason
Although I don't believe Doug will win over Tory, that base of his can never being taken lightly, if anything changes over the next year or he continues to get free over exposure by the left media and those voters that despise him vigorously I wouldn't be overly shocked if he closes the gap either.
