Rob Ford's Toronto

[TheTigerMaster]

His supporters love this stuff. All they care about is that Ford pisses off liberals, commies, and hippies, and he's doing a great job of that. Ford benefits from the 30-or-so% of the population that always supports the most conservative politician, no matter what. I think literally the only thing he could do that would alienate his base is something creepy involving children. Anything else is fair game for him.

I'm honestly not too sure about that...

 

[typezed]

Spider is voting for Rob Ford, and continuing to comment here about it despite being out of step with most everyone here, because he wants you to know that he thinks that you, downtown elite, despite your concerns and your goals and your dreams for the city, are really just a hypocrite and a loser. Rob Ford the person and the politician hardly matters in that equation.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Idiocy and stupidity are already legal as witnessed by most of the content of this thread.
The 15 or so people who contribute here are no longer funny enough to follow daily, just increasingly desperate to topple the mayor.

People, he is here and he is dear (if I may borrow a phrase) to many more people than populate this thread. It is called democracy. Mayor Ford is mayor because he is not you, think about it.

I voted for Ford last time and may do so again, it depends on the choices offered. What I do know is that I will never vote for a clone of Miller, Smitherman or Pantalone.

Please don't set your hair on fire over his short comings, remember his vote is only 1 of 45.

As witnessed in the post above.

Here's a man who embarrasses out city over and over again, relentlessly, across the country and around the world and you'd consider voting for him again. He's crooked, lying, ineffective, he's turned moderate citizens against each other, he's bitterly divided Council and he's not even a conservative. I bet you believe that Scarborough is getting a subway extension too right?

Call me a fool, but I want to see our city move forward in a respected, fiscally responsible, progressive manner. I'll be voting for the candidate who I best feel is able to do that next October, not clinging to a bullheaded fool.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Idiocy and stupidity are already legal as witnessed by most of the content of this thread.
The 15 or so people who contribute here are no longer funny enough to follow daily, just increasingly desperate to topple the mayor.

People, he is here and he is dear (if I may borrow a phrase) to many more people than populate this thread. It is called democracy. Mayor Ford is mayor because he is not you, think about it.

I voted for Ford last time and may do so again, it depends on the choices offered. What I do know is that I will never vote for a clone of Miller, Smitherman or Pantalone.

Please don't set your hair on fire over his short comings, remember his vote is only 1 of 45.

I agree with you completely spider. The idiots here on Urban Toronto and the liberal and conservative media are on some kind of manhunt against our mayor. I absolutely hate how these people continue to report "facts" about our mayor and come to "reasonable conclusions" about him. C'mon man. It's ridiculous. People need to listen to the Rob and Doug show on CFRB and internalize all of what they say without any critical thinking.

And all of these media manufactured "scandals" are ridiculous.

I mean, who cares if the Ford:

1. Compared Chinese people to dogs
2. Told gays they deserve to die
3. Were massive drug dealers when they were younger
4. Got arrested for DUI in Florida
5. Lied to the taxpayers of Toronto about the DUI in Florida
6. Wanted to spend $1.6 Billion of our taxpayes dollars on an ill advised subway which he didn't even know the location of (that's some respect for taxpayer's dollars)
7. Flushed something like $200 Million of our taxpayers dollars down the toilet (more of that great respect)
9. Got kicked out of the ACC for being intoxicated
10. Lied to the people of Toronto about being intoxicated at the ACC
11. Was drunk during his official duties at taste of Danforth
12. Lied to the people of Toronto about being drunk at the Danfroth
13. Drove to the taste of danforth intoxicated, putting countless lives of hard working taxpayers at risk
14. Was reading a newspaper while driving on the Gardiner, putting more lives of taxpayers at risk
15. Was dunk at a military event
16. Lied about being drunk at said event
17. Groped Sarah Tomson (Thompson?) at another event
18. Had his home broken into by a drug dealer looking for some money that Ford owned him
19. gets some enjoyment out of beating his wife
20. His brother was convicted of kidnapping
21. He was photographed hanging out with some drug dealers, one of whom is dead and another who is in jail
22. The man in possession of the crack video was stabbed because of it
23. He uses racial slurs against other councilors in chambers
24. His sister is a member of the KKK
25. His family, including RoFo, has a long history of criminal activity
26. I could keep on going...

Personally, I really don't care. He saved me $30 on my taxes!!!. Well worth it in my opinion. Ford 2014!!!!!!!!!! Bastion of taxpayes money!!! (kindly ignore the $200 Million+ he's thrown down the toilet)


Everyone else: I realize that the list is a little (actually very short), so please feel free to add any of the dozens of things I've forgotten to mention.

 

[somuchwater]

His supporters love this stuff. All they care about is that Ford pisses off liberals, commies, and hippies, and he's doing a great job of that. Ford benefits from the 30-or-so% of the population that always supports the most conservative politician, no matter what. I think literally the only thing he could do that would alienate his base is something creepy involving children. Anything else is fair game for him.

Utter, complete nonsense. Undoubtedly, there are some vocal supporters who think this way, but the vast majority are just people who support what appears to be 'common sense', and fiscal conservatism. Exactly how would you support this assertion of yours? With what empirical evidence? Or is it just a gut feeling you have, or something you've ascertained by reading comments under newspaper stories?

This relentless streak of "Ford's supporters are just stupid" is, whether people are willing to admit or not, starting to reek of classism - which in this city also means another -ism that starts with r-, too...

 

[LowPolygon]

Idiocy and stupidity are already legal as witnessed by most of the content of this thread.
The 15 or so people who contribute here are no longer funny enough to follow daily, just increasingly desperate to topple the mayor.

People, he is here and he is dear (if I may borrow a phrase) to many more people than populate this thread. It is called democracy. Mayor Ford is mayor because he is not you, think about it.

I voted for Ford last time and may do so again, it depends on the choices offered. What I do know is that I will never vote for a clone of Miller, Smitherman or Pantalone.

Please don't set your hair on fire over his short comings, remember his vote is only 1 of 45.

pathetic.
ignorant.
selfish.
sad.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Utter, complete nonsense. Undoubtedly, there are some vocal supporters who think this way, but the vast majority are just people who support what appears to be 'common sense', and fiscal conservatism. Exactly how would you support this assertion of yours? With what empirical evidence? Or is it just a gut feeling you have, or something you've ascertained by reading comments under newspaper stories?

This relentless streak of "Ford's supporters are just stupid" is, whether people are willing to admit or not, starting to reek of classism - which in this city also means another -ism that starts with r-, too...

I don't see how it "reeks of classism".

And "common sense fiscal conservatism" is just a synonym for your typical political populism. In other words, cut taxes, cut services and hope the city doesn't fall apart, while at the same time having a few $Billion in change for subways. Hint: it never works. Ever.

 

[somuchwater]

I don't see how it "reeks of classism".

And "common sense fiscal conservatism" is just a synonym for your typical political populism. In other words, cut taxes, cut services and hope the city doesn't fall apart, while at the same time having a few $Billion in change for subways. Hint: it never works. Ever.

You don't see how, in light of the suburban-urban tension that Ford exploited, relentlessly saying the ~350,000 people who voted for Ford are just spiteful idiots is classist?

And I wasn't defending Ford's so-called "policies" - I was talking about why his message sold.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

You don't see how, in light of the suburban-urban tension that Ford exploited, relentlessly saying the ~350,000 people who voted for Ford are just spiteful idiots is classist?

And I wasn't defending Ford's so-called "policies" - I was talking about why his message sold.

I still don't see how it's classism. He didn't say "Subruban people love this stuff. All they care about is that Ford pisses off liberals, commies, and hippies, and he's doing a great job of that." He said, "His supporters love this stuff. All they care about is that Ford pisses off liberals, commies, and hippies, and he's doing a great job of that. ".

There's a difference. By grouping all suburban people together, the former is most definitely indefensible classism. The latter is just making a point about the people who continue to support this mayor, regardless of their social status.

 

[LowPolygon]

You don't see how, in light of the suburban-urban tension that Ford exploited, relentlessly saying the ~350,000 people who voted for Ford are just spiteful idiots is classist?

here's a handy way of identifying a spiteful idiot:

who, of the voters that voted for Rob Ford in 2010, after witnessing his behaviour in office, and his performance as mayor, are going to vote for Rob Ford in 2014?

it's them.

 

[somuchwater]

I still don't see how it's classism. He didn't say "Subruban people love this stuff. All they care about is that Ford pisses off liberals, commies, and hippies, and he's doing a great job of that." He said, "His supporters love this stuff. All they care about is that Ford pisses off liberals, commies, and hippies, and he's doing a great job of that. ".

There's a difference. By grouping all suburban people together, the former is most definitely undependable classism. The latter is just making a point about the people who continue to support this mayor, regardless of their social status.

That's both convenient and unsubstantiated. There is an empirically verifiable trend that has seen poverty grow in the suburbs, while wealth is increasingly concentrated in the core and along subway lines. In particularly economically suppressed neighbourhoods - like in North Etobicoke - Ford's numbers were through the roof. You cannot separate class from the suburban-urban divide in the city, just as you cannot separate it from race and ethnicity either.

More to the point, you seem to object to the idea of grouping suburbanites together, but not 'Rob Ford voters'. Again, if you believe that ~350,000 people are all spiteful idiots with no legitimate concerns they felt other candidates refused to address, then your view of this city's political scene is absolutely classist. It's also a completely absurd assertion to make.

 

[somuchwater]

here's a handy way of identifying a spiteful idiot:

who, of the voters that voted for Rob Ford in 2010, after witnessing his behaviour in office, and his performance as mayor, are going to vote for Rob Ford in 2014?

it's them.

Nope! That's just yet another assertion utterly devoid of any intelligence or sympathy. Will there be some people who vote for Ford to stick it to those liberal commies? Sure! But if Ford is re-elected, it will be because no other candidate will actually address the issues Ford voters care about.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

here's a handy way of identifying a spiteful idiot:

who, of the voters that voted for Rob Ford in 2010, after witnessing his behaviour in office, and his performance as mayor, are going to vote for Rob Ford in 2014?

it's them.

They're not necessarily spiteful. Many have their reasons, beyond pure ignorance.

 

[mrtinfoilsocket]

Nope! That's just yet another assertion utterly devoid of any intelligence or sympathy. Will there be some people who vote for Ford to stick it to those liberal commies? Sure! But if Ford is re-elected, it will be because no other candidate will actually address the issues Ford voters care about.

The problem is... what they "care about" is getting more stuff/services/subways while paying less taxes and cutting imaginary gravy. Which brings us back to ignorance.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

More to the point, you seem to object to the idea of grouping suburbanites together, but not 'Rob Ford voters'. Again, if you believe that ~350,000 people are all spiteful idiots with no legitimate concerns they felt other candidates refused to address, then your view of this city's political scene is absolutely classist. It's also a completely absurd assertion to make.

I do not believe that.

That's both convenient and unsubstantiated. There is an empirically verifiable trend that has seen poverty grow in the suburbs, while wealth is increasingly concentrated in the core and along subway lines. In particularly economically suppressed neighbourhoods - like in North Etobicoke - Ford's numbers were through the roof. You cannot separate class from the suburban-urban divide in the city, just as you cannot separate it from race and ethnicity either.

I would agree with you if something like 90% of people who voted for Ford were minimum wage, suburban, minority voters. But that is not what happened. Very poor people as well as many very rich people voted for the man. He had support from a wide variety of people from a large part (geographically) of the city. This idea that it is wrong to generalize something about a group of people (within reasonable limits, of course), just because some of the people in that group may happen to have something in common is ridiculous.