, 03.03.2018 06:45 PM

What to do when a hatemonger says he supports you

Simple.

You reject his support. And then you denounce him the clearest terms.

To put a fine point on it: Kevin J. Johnston is a notorious Muslim-hating bigot who has been charged with hate crimes. Doug Ford must denounce him and reject his support – now.

More about Johnston’s hate charges here.

Doug Ford needs to address this right now. It is the kind of thing that will sink his campaign. And deservedly so.

11 Comments

  1. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    It seems to many of us that Ford has grown as a leader. This is either his road to Damascus or Waterloo. Only he can make the choice – – and his campaign will live or die depending on how fast he responds and what he decides.

    Simple political math.

  2. Kevin says:

    Perhaps, like Trump, Ford would do that, ‘…if it made you feel better’. Repudiate but not quite.

    It will be interesting to see his reaction.

  3. Steve says:

    No doubt Kathleen Wynne is also hoping Doug Ford wins the leadership of the Ontario PC’s. It is likely the only faint hope she has of hanging on as premier in June. The stories are likely already written and ready for print. In addition to god knows what else, Doug is an admitted former hash dealer, will be accused of wanting to slash services, right wing zealot, brother of notorious Rob, etc, etc… I like Doug but totally disagree that he is the right choice to lead the PC’s at this time. In this particular moment in time the smart move would be to elect a woman to lead the party. That leaves a choice between Christine Elliott & Caroline Mulroney. Caroline is a future star and a woman with serious professional accomplishments in her young life. Having said that she is a political novice who is yet to even win a provincial seat. Christine Elliott is also an accomplished woman with a wealth of political experience. Her surprise loss to Patrick Brown in the last leadership campaign was surprising and concerning, but I believe she has learned from that and is ready to take on the Kathleen Wynne Liberals. Christine is the smartest choice by far. Go Christine !

  4. Sean says:

    I tend to think Christine Elliot is the best choice. I think I read she’s a supporter of the arts which includes a wide range from the Toronto Opera House to the Hot Nasties. She has done legal work for charities for free.

    I see Rob Ford in the same light as Mike Harris and Donald Trump- enough said.

  5. Fred from BC says:

    This reminds me of the last US election, where Hillary was endorsed by that KKK guy (who also claimed that she had received 30,000 dollars from them). She denounced him (and his organization), but I never heard what happened to the money.

  6. Peter says:

    Assuming this fruitcake is not found to be part of Ford’s organization or a source of funding, I’m not sure he needs to do anything. Twitter is an abomination to those who take politics seriously. It’s a huge mob of people releasing their ids, playing “gotcha!” and being in a “shocked and appalled” lather about different things twenty times a day. Anything Ford says would just unleash a new round of Twitter-fever. If I were a candidate, I might just say I refused on principle to comment on tweets about me but would be happy to answer questions about my positions. Of course, this assumes I wouldn’t be on Twitter myself.

  7. Fred from BC says:

    “Twitter is an abomination to those who take politics seriously. It’s a huge mob of people releasing their ids, playing “gotcha!” and being in a “shocked and appalled” lather about different things twenty times a day.”

    Well said.

    I agree with your solution as well. As long as this guy (who I’ve never heard of) doesn’t start taking selfies with Doug Ford or going on social media or local news offering his endorsement, I’d say ignoring him might be less risky. If he starts getting any appreciable amount of media attention, then yeah…it would have to be dealt with. Otherwise, let him stay anonymous.

    Political parties will always receive support from people they despise and want no association with, but there are limits to their ability to deal with that support. Conservatives have unwanted support from racists and anti-abortionists, Liberals get it from radical feminists and sexual harassers (oh, the irony), and the NDP gets votes from anarchists, communists and ec0-terrorists. We don’t know who serial killers prefer; perhaps they are a mixed bag…;)

  8. Fred from BC says:

    Oh, and “Premiere”?

    Has someone made a movie about Ontario, and Doug Ford is hosting the first showing?

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