— Musings —11.22.2010 07:49 AM
— Musings —11.22.2010 07:49 AM
Rob Ford shares the ‘keep the message loud and clear’ turf with Mike Harris.
It is effective.
I differ with Tulk’s take on the main lesson to be learned from Ford’s victory.
Kick out the bums there now, may well be the lesson.
Folks are hurting and they see the target in the faces of the politicians there now.
Davey makes a point that you’ve done in your books & here often Warren re: the crystal clear consistent message will win the day every time. I find Davey’s piece directed more to the current LPOC because when it’s tough to understand what Ignatieff’s talking about the message is already muddled. When, even media need a translator to figure out what the heck the dude is getting at, well, next best thing is to spin and spin hard hoping that something will gel.
Ian Davey’s comments didn’t surprise me. From day one it was obvious that Rob Ford was going to mop the floor with his opponents. After all, Mr. Ford has been winning elections for a decade.
When the Toronto media and assorted commentators (some on this blog’s comments) made fun of his body shape, rather than focusing on his political record, that told me his opposition was running scared.
We didn’t make fun of his body shape.
We had quite a lot to say about his brain size, however.
Right on JC (or is that taken?) When you don’t like the message – shoot the messenger. When you can’t counter an opponents arguments with logic – belittle him instead. A prime example is what has been done to recent liberal leaders ie bird poop, ‘just visiting’ etc. Just trying to be fair and balanced here WK.
“Torontonians want lower taxes, less government, a tougher approach on crime.” If that’s what Torontonians want, then why did they elect a conservative?
Um, no, Gord. Not at all.
Where did any candidate even talk about “less government”? When did “tougher approach on crime” ever dominate any candidate’s talking points?
Ford campaigned on cutting two specific taxes and waste. To the extent he talked about government he said two things: (1) better services from it, and (2) more of it, in the shape of a bigger TTC with more subways and other big spending plans of his.
He won because he focused, and focused sharply, on waste. That’s why left and right and middle all voted for him. Torontonians, like Canadians writ large, have differing views on the value of government spending and size of government. Most don’t mind forking over their hard earned dollars as long as they see the value for it.
In Toronto, we didn’t and we went with the guy who’s been talking about that issue for 10 years.
The great thing for Ford is that Miller has handed him a $200M surplus so him might even be able to keep some of his campaign promises (the ones he hasn’t already broken, that is).
I know this isn’t the point……….but I can’t stand it when people say that their services didn’t improve under David MIller. That dude gets a raw deal. He inherited a giant mess from Mel Lastman. Improved relations with the province. Got people thinking about real urban issues again.
Toronto is a vastly better place now, than it was seven years ago. And, Rob Ford will get to reap some of the rewards set up by David Miller.
The reason taxes went up and services didn’t increase in quality was because David Miller valued solvency over pandering to the angry and entitled masses who want both great services and low taxes.
Is Ian seriously calling what Miller did a “mistake” when he dared to run a sustainable, balanced budget instead of spending away and/or lowering taxes even further? I’m not sure when the public decided that taxes could be lowered and services increased and that they had a right to be angry when both of those didn’t happen, but Jesus Christ — we deserve all the idiots we elect when we’re so entitled that we can’t stomach voting for politicians that don’t indulge our self-deception regarding public moneys.
I’ll vote if and when someone has the fortitude to tell me that my services have to decrease in quality and that my taxes have to go up substantially, but let’s just say I don’t see myself voting any time soon.