— Musings —11.28.2013 03:35 PM
Toronto needs a mayor: how can you tell when Rob Ford is lying?
…his lips are moving.
Old joke, but – in his case – it fits. Read, for example, this hot-off-the-presses evisceration of Ford’s Big Budget Bullshit. It’s good:
There are many reasons to oppose Rob Ford. You may have seen some of them in the news recently. But there is an essential, inescapable truth that goes beyond his behaviour: Rob Ford’s arguments, and his math, do not add up. They do not add up when he falsely claims he has saved a billion dollars, and they certainly don’t add up on a back-of-the-napkin budget proposal that promises the impossible. Perhaps this is because of his liberal relationship with truth-telling, or maybe it is because he fundamentally does not understand how the institution he leads actually works.
Stripped of his powers, the mayor is reduced to his ability to shout—which is, to be fair, considerable. But his message does not merit real consideration. If anything, treating it seriously worsens our understanding of Toronto’s finances. The sooner we recognize that the mayor’s dishonesty and misdirection is not limited to his personal life but extends to his policies, the sooner we can move on to a meaningful discussion of what we’d like to see in the budget—and the sooner the budget can be about Toronto and not Rob Ford.
Full link here.
The problem isn’t our ability to tell when Rob Ford is lying.
It’s Rob Ford’s inability to tell when he is. I don’t think he knows.
Not to beat the dead horse of the Stupidity that is the Scarborough Subway, but what is not included in the piece is the future cost of OPERATING a Subway that does little or nothing to improve transit in TeaHo. Add to that that this Subway is flushing $80million of MY Ontario Tax dollars down the john…
No offence but Halton is about 2/3 the size of Scarborough, Mississauga is bigger, and frankly, if TeaHo didn’t want $80million in Transit Money from the province, perhaps next time Mr Murray could ask the rest of the GTA if they could use the dough. Best thing from the Liberal Leadership earlier this year. Mr Murray came nowhere near the keys to the car.
The same author, along with Torontoist’s editor, did a thorough piece about the subway extension v. LRT costs before the last Council vote: http://torontoist.com/2013/10/subway-vs-lrt-you-do-the-math-on-scarborough-transit/
Thanks for sharing those two essential paragraphs, Warren, which cut to the heart of the matter much better than most media coverage. At the national level, I’m similarly impressed with Andrew Coyne’s work, as in Thursday’s one-sentence summary of the Harper brand:
“It’s the general impression that we are being governed by a gang of thugs – secretive, high-handed, unprincipled gusting to unethical, and openly contemptuous of such quaint notions as democratic accountability – an impression that grows more baked in each time the prime minister dodges a question in Parliament, or worse, sends in the clownish Paul Calandra to answer in his place.”
It’s not a “lie” if you want to believe it and 30% of the Toronto Ford Nation voters still believe in the fat reprobate. IOW they will believe whatever Ford pompously proclaims.
In 2014, Ford will become bigger than life and many gullible Torontonians will bite on the bait because Ford vociferously promises to hold down taxes. Meanwhile the other mayoral candidates will just be yapping at his heels.
Be prepared for another Rob Ford mayoralty!!
Some things will have to be shouted back. Paragraphs won’t work.
FORD IS ENTITLED
YOU WILL PAY MORE FOR DECADES BECAUSE OF FORD
FORD WASTED $xxx MILLION OF THE TAXPAYER’S MONEY*
* Somebody needs to tally up the bike lane removal, the Crosstown sunk costs, the Scarborough Stubway sunk costs, Police overtime to investigate corrupt mayor, David Price’s salary, court costs on conflict of interest, Gardiner EA delay costs, etc. Oh wait, scratch that. Why bother?
FORD WASTED A BILLION DOLLARS OF TAXPAYER MONEY
Accuracy is so last year. Just keep saying (oops, SHOUTING) it over and over and the news will just report it.
His critics should to focus on his policy (or lack thereof) like this.
He only seems to gain support when they make personal jabs at his weight, attitude and personal life.