[pw20]

http://www.cbc.ca/toronto/features/mymayor/entry/10-reasons-to-vote-rob-ford
10 reasons to vote Rob Ford
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Rob FordRob Ford (Chris Young/CP)
I'll vote for Ford because:

1. He represents the voice for fiscal restraint at City Hall.

2. He supports Subways over LRT's.

3. He recognizes that the cars are an important part of the transportation mix in Toronto.

4. He's the only one who will continue to fight for removal of the Land Transfer Tax.

5. He understands that the City can't keep raising taxes beyond the rate of inflation without impoverishing it's citizens.

6. He won't put up with elitist sense of entitlement as witnessed at Toronto Community Housing Corporation and cleaned up the corruption.

7. I want him in charge when public sector contracts with bloated pensions and benefits come up for renewal.

8. He understands that his job is to keep Toronto running well and doesn't aspire to representing Toronto on the world stage or areas that are the rightful purview of the provincial and federal government such as youth unemployment. There is no reason for City Councillors to travel the world studying how other cities function. Read a book or use technology.

9. He will continue to ferret out ways to reduce the cost of city services.

10. He has a simple common sense approach to city government and the people he represents.


- J Watkins

so how do we fix this?

1. He doesn't represent fiscal restraint because he doesn't understand the levers at which are under his power nor is he willing to spend the time understanding the levers. He'd rather make phone calls to constituents. This is to me the most MIND BOGGLING aspect of RoFo and Sugar Beach underscored the fact that he is INCOMPETENT irrespective of his addiction/disease/red apple.

He just doesn't know how to get the job done and doesn't seem interested in getting the job done.

 

[nohostages]

Funny Nader nadir

 

[Kat_YYZ]

....
I will agree with the poster who said what Ford does well is outrage, and the other candidates need to be outraged right back. The only two that can pull that off at this point are probably Chow and Tory. Stintz had her chance and decided to pass, for who knows what reason. Soks just doesn't have the personality, unfortunately.

Would it help Chow, a soft spoken person at the best of times, to enlist a professional shouter (an Adam Vaughn or Thomas Mulcair type, maybe? Mulcair has always done angry pretty well.) I don't know.

Tory can do outrage and insults himself. He might be the best at counteracting Ford anyway, because he's also on the right. Apollo/Muzik/Moore Corp. is Ford's soft underbelly with the corporate crowd. Let the 'kickback' mudslinging begin!

She might need one even if she's not naturally soft-spoken, because when women show anger or outrage, they are subtly* labelled as 'bitches' or 'hysterical' (*people may not say those actual words, but there are other code words, like "emotional," accompanied by sly nods and winks).

 

[requiem]

Tell that to every late night talk show host in the US.

I tweeted it to Jimmy Kimmel AND posted on his FB wall.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

North America seems the only place in the world where workers look at someone with better job benefits than them and say "if I don't have that, neither should they", instead of demanding that their employers bring them up to par. ETA: I might add that setting a positive example is part of the reason public sector jobs *are* paid and benefitted well.

I can't agree more. The hatred of Unions is ridiculous and a indicator of a society which values wealth over everything else.

I think a lot of people who voted for Ford didn't really look beyond the image of him as a guy who appeared to save money by watching every penny. Aspects such as his honesty or reasonableness weren't really on their radar.

There was an "Anyone But Ford" movement during the last election, and the 500,000 Voters for a Rob Ford Free Toronto Facebook page was started when his polls started to go up. There was fire then, but to the mass public, he wasn't as egregiously repulsive as he appears now. At worst, he was seen as a bit of a loser with some addiction issues and not the full-out crackhead who hangs out with gangs and stinks of corruption that he is now.

Fair enough, but even then we knew about the Maple Leafs game, etc. That should have been enough to keep him out. But lower taxes >>>>everything else in Toronto.

 

[basic]

But lower taxes >>>>everything else in Toronto.

I think this was true at a very specific time in Toronto, and Ford happened to jump on it. I don't think the extreme blind aversion is all that prevalent anymore.

 

[JasonParis]

I always take IHTWOMRF as the test of what Ford's numbers really are. The page likes have been stuck below 4000 for almost a year. It's not moving, and at times has been declining, only to rise back up to the same number. It's stagnant, and depressingly low. And it is the biggest pro-Ford site on Facebook.

Some of IHTWOMRF is also people there for the spectacle and not always a sign of supporting him. However, if you do post anti-Ford stuff you are generally quickly banned.

 

[stoobiedood]

The question is where was this fire from the people 4 years ago. The fact is like you said electorate voted him in, and it reflects on the electorate. Right now, they look short sighted and greedy.

The fact is, almost half the electorate sat on their hands and couldn't be bothered to vote; only 25% of the eligible electorate voted Ford in. They look short-sighted and greedy. The 28% who voted against him do not, and don't share the blame. The other 46.8% who did nothing look short-sighted and negligent.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-voter-turnout-hits-53-2-1.884395

 

[r937]

Additionally, if you take the time to examine the members of IHTWOMRF ...

i don't have that kind of drive-nails-into-my-skull stamina

maybe you do, but i don't

 

[christiesplits]

Chow seems to be following Kathleen Wynne's strategy last Spring. Stay above the fray and retain a positive message. I think people are overestimating Kinsella's impact. Outside of #cdnpoli and a dozen or so Sun News followers, no one knows who he is.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

The fact is, almost half the electorate sat on their hands and couldn't be bothered to vote; only 25% of the eligible electorate voted Ford in. They look short-sighted and greedy. The 28% who voted against him do not, and don't share the blame. The other 46.8% who did nothing look short-sighted and negligent.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-voter-turnout-hits-53-2-1.884395

Your breakdown is correct but at the end of the day Robert Ford was elected mayor and George Smitherman was not. That's a shame and this brand of retail politics needs to be ended.

 

[soimelk]

I think the idea that Ford has a chance is laughable. Too much stock is being put into the Keyes Constant and a shoddy Forum poll. This is a really unique situation, that is for sure.

Ford's brand is beyond saturated at this point, and has been for ages. The majority of people have made up their mind about him, so the way the media handles him, and the approach Ford takes with constituents isn't as much of a factor as people make it out to be. He's still playing the game to keep his numbers where they are, which aren't anywhere close to electable in any combination of splits. He has been treading water ever since the crack scandal hit and has shown to be doing nothing but sinking. There is likely to be a higher turnout this time as well, and the added votes will be for other candidates.

To add to this, many voters who usually go with a candidate who represents their political inclinations will be willing to swing left, or right, and vote for the candidate who has the best chance to beat Ford. I plan on doing so if Ford is at all competitive, and my candidate isn't looking like the #1 contender. The single biggest election issue for me is ensuring Ford is out of city hall, so Toronto can restore some sanity and dignity to its political system.

 

[the lemur]

Fair enough, but even then we knew about the Maple Leafs game, etc. That should have been enough to keep him out. But lower taxes >>>>everything else in Toronto.

People may have been willing to cut Ford some slack at first regarding his behaviour, although the nature of his comments at the Leafs game and the fact that he initially lied about being there at all/abusing the couple in the stands is a bit of a red flag.

Lots of people will vote for anything that promises to lower their taxes, mostly because they consider pretty much any level of taxation to be extortionate and they don't understand what taxes pay for and how. Same with 'cutting spending'. But it should be clear by now to many of Ford's former voters that he has no idea how to make up for lost revenue or how to pay for things he thinks we need and which supposedly shouldn't cost us anything.

 

[GenerationW]

The fact is, almost half the electorate sat on their hands and couldn't be bothered to vote; only 25% of the eligible electorate voted Ford in. They look short-sighted and greedy. The 28% who voted against him do not, and don't share the blame. The other 46.8% who did nothing look short-sighted and negligent.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-voter-turnout-hits-53-2-1.884395

You're on shaky ground with that argument. Using that logic, only 22.2% of the electorate voted for Miller in 2006.

 

[r937]

Your breakdown is correct but at the end of the day...

it'll be night!!

sorry, involuntary response