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Rob Ford - Why the Supervillian?

MetroMan said:
Has anybody noticed there seems to be a turning of the tide against Ford? I think that his proposal to do away with the Streetcar has made it personal for many people. It's a Toronto icon, despite how much some drivers love to hate them. I can't imagine our city without them.
Click to expand...

If so, it may be not unlike how Harper blew hopes for a bigger Quebec sweep in '08 through his tin-earedness re the "cultural" question...
 
Well, it's becoming real for me now... I've been supporting Thomson and Pantalone on my Facebook page and like clockwork, I'd have a bunch of friends commenting and supporting Ford. Today, even one of the hard headed ones backed away from Ford. None of these friends are rail fans but each of them can appreciate how the streetcar is important to Toronto. All of them would rather ride the streetcar than take a bus.

Hopefully this will start to break in to Ford's armour and the other candidates will take the opportunity to amplify this against him.

The closer the election gets, the more I'm convinced this man cannot become Mayor. I think that at least 50% of Torontonians agree and if Ford is in first in the week before election day, whoever is in second place will run away with the election.
 
Just heard Ford on Goldhawk. I can see why people believe this man. He knows how to tap into people's resentment and sticks to those points. God help us, this man has a high probability of becoming our next Mayor.
 
You know a right wing candidate is too right wing when even The Toronto Sun doesn't want him to win:

http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/rob_granatstein/2010/09/10/15312741.html

That's at least the 3rd article that I've read in as many days on The Sun that warns voters about Ford and calls him on his lying and impossible platform. I think they should run his mugshot on the front page again now that everybody's paying attention...
 
MetroMan said:
God help us, this man has a high probability of becoming our next Mayor.
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I can't see how that would happen with a lack of support from the media, and his nutball ideas. I'm really surprised how upset people I know, who don't care about politics are about the things he is saying. His support fell in the last poll; I suspect that next poll will show another drop; anyone know when one is coming out?
 
If you hear him on Goldhawk, he manages to stay on message and say the right things to amplify the anti-City Hall sentiment and then appear as the solution. He's saying the right things for many casual voters. You and I know what a nut case he is and how his ideas would never lift off but most people hear: lower taxes, less wasteful spending, subways instead of streetcars.. and so on.

It doesn't appear as though none of the candidates will drop out at this point. Rossi was most pressed to do so a few weeks ago and chose not to and he was rewarded by a boost in the polls. Sarah Thomson has all the money in the world to go to the end. Pantalone is the only flag bearer for the left, and Smitherman has the highest numbers so he'll remain in it to the end. So, if Ford can hover around 35% to 40%, the other candidates will take away from each other, and nobody else will be able to get within that percentage. Ford will win this election, if that likely scenario plays out.

The only way to save this election, is if Ford's opponents were to get behind one candidate. That's unlikely to happen but it's possible that their high profile supporters can abandon lower performing candidates and get behind the one in second place. John Tory can still be a white horse in this race by coming in an endorsing a candidate and campaign with them.
 
MetroMan said:
If you hear him on Goldhawk, he manages to stay on message and say the right things to amplify the anti-City Hall sentiment and then appear as the solution. He's saying the right things for many casual voters. You and I know what a nut case he is and how his ideas would never lift off but most people hear: lower taxes, less wasteful spending, subways instead of streetcars.. and so on.

It doesn't appear as though none of the candidates will drop out at this point. Rossi was most pressed to do so a few weeks ago and chose not to and he was rewarded by a boost in the polls. Sarah Thomson has all the money in the world to go to the end. Pantalone is the only flag bearer for the left, and Smitherman has the highest numbers so he'll remain in it to the end. So, if Ford can hover around 35% to 40%, the other candidates will take away from each other, and nobody else will be able to get within that percentage. Ford will win this election, if that likely scenario plays out.

The only way to save this election, is if Ford's opponents were to get behind one candidate. That's unlikely to happen but it's possible that their high profile supporters can abandon lower performing candidates and get behind the one in second place. John Tory can still be a white horse in this race by coming in an endorsing a candidate and campaign with them.
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I am not so sure this is something to worry about. The natural tendency of these things is to eventually narrow down to two contenders, whether the others drop out or not. I mean, Sarah Thomson and Joe Pants can stay in as long as they want, but how many of their supporters wouldn't switch over to Rossi or Smitherman, if Ford is still a threat? Incidentally, I think this is partly why Smitherman has embarked on his 'lurch to the right'-- he probably figures that if push really comes to shove, lots of people on the left will hold their noses for him. Barbara Hall never dropped out in 2003, but her support plunged to the point where that wasn't an issue for the other left wing candidate.

This also presumes that Ford is still the frontrunner in six weeks. I don't think that is at all a given. Aside from geeks like us, most people just started paying attention, and I consider the election pretty wide open.
 
Also, be careful when looking at poll numbers - some pollsters' throw out percentages of decided voters, whereas others use percentages of likely voters. The latter is the more important figure.
 
GraphicMatt said:
Cross-posted here too. Rob Ford's transit plan:

robfordtransitplan.png


Consumers Station will be the place to be in 2015.
Click to expand...

mjl08 said:
I guess Rob Ford's plan includes the removal of Coxwell station?
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Been lurking for a while, but I just had to reply to this poorly constructed map.

In addition to the missing Coxwell, there's Victoria Park, Warden, and Kennedy showing up as "Complete by 2015," as if those three stations don't already have a subway passing through them. Clearly this guy's clueless of anything east of his ward.
 
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nfitz said:
I can't see how that would happen with a lack of support from the media, and his nutball ideas. I'm really surprised how upset people I know, who don't care about politics are about the things he is saying. His support fell in the last poll; I suspect that next poll will show another drop; anyone know when one is coming out?
Click to expand...

perhaps out of touch?

I'm no ford supporter, but being tapped into this election, he's the only mayor having 300 plus volunteers come out on canvass day.
That's grass roots, unlike Pantalone, who hasn't even done a lit drop or canvass.
I guess all his champagne socialist supporters are too busy blogging and complaining on patios and coffees ;)
 
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