— Musings —09.16.2010 03:09 PM
The campaign’s going great! All these old Tories are supporting me!
Pull quotes from the latest Furious profile:
- “[SMITHERMAN HAVING] AN IDENTITY CRISIS RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES…”
- “WTF? How did the front-runner in the race for mayor, the self-styled Toronto boy, the chosen one, go from king of the heap to flirting with disaster?”
- “…Smitherman didn’t seem to be in the fight…”
- “What if the next poll shows him sliding further? It’s not hard to imagine a slide like the one that preceded the defeat of his old mentor, Barbara Hall, in the 2003 runoff.”
- “…there’s no doubt the Smitherman campaign is showing signs of wear and tear.”
- “[Smitherman campaign] workers are weary, a few counting the days until it’s over…”
- “Smitherman hasn’t helped his cause by going through a political identity crisis right before our eyes, tacking to and fro with almost every blink.”
- “…he’s flip-flopping on a biz tax to create jobs for youth.”
- “The media, though, are conspicuously absent [from Smitherman media stunt]. Only a lone cameraman from Global and yours truly are here to take in the pathos. Perhaps it’s wasn’t the smartest idea to ask the media out to the burbs in the middle of rush hour traffic.”
- “This [Smitherman] bunch is getting a little punchy. [Campaign manager Bruce] Davis’s face betrays a hint of resignation when talking about the campaign’s own latest polling.”
- “…at the all-important rally…things look disappointing early on for what handlers have billed as a speech on Smitherman’s vision for Toronto. Maybe 75 people have shown up, and the room has been cut in half to make the gathering look bigger for the two television cameras.”
Actually, just read the whole article. You almost feel sorry for him.
Almost.
FUN BUT HIGHLY REVEALING UPDATE: George tweets about going to a debate today. Which, um, er, is tomorrow.
I did not look at the complete list of former Conservatives who were supporting him, but I did not see any big names that would impress me. Now if David Crombie, Hal Jackman or Barbara MacDougal were on the list, I would stifle my yawn and, take notice.
The only old Tory on that list I recognize is Isabel Bassett. And the only reason I remember her, for I don’t normally remember one-term elected officials, is because she was married to the late John Bassett and is mega rich.
Hmm! Did you see the online poll in the sidebar? It’s not scientific, by any means, but it shows Rossi in third, ahead of Smitherman, and very close behind Rob Ford.
Hey, it’s you’re blog, but you left out these quotes from the old Tories (Bassett’s a Tory Torie)
We’re conservatives,” says the letter, sent at about 4 p.m. Wednesday. “He’s a Liberal. Thankfully in municipal politics, party lines don’t get in the way of supporting the best candidate for the job.
“We believe, hands down, that George Smitherman is the only one who can finally fix City Hall and get it focused on serving us as taxpayers.”