10.08.2012 09:14 PM

In Tuesday’s Sun: conservative buffoons and poltroons (updated)

If you want an example of why conservatives have gotten so good at winning, take look at Toronto mayor Rob Ford.

We’re serious.

Many, many folks in and around Toronto regard Ford as an unmitigated disaster. A loser. Just a year ago, for instance, Ford was named the “World’s Worst Person” by a U.S. TV show. He is, in the opinion of many, an oaf and a poltroon.

Many, many folks in Toronto dislike him intensely, and not just lefties like me, either. They are embarrassed that he is mayor of Toronto, a city that regularly aspires to be world class.

Ford’s mistakes and missteps happen daily. They are legion. Most recently, he has been the subject of a great big conflict-of-interest scandal, wherein he has gotten in trouble for his involvement with a high school football team. Ford, who evidently sees his coaching duties as more important that anything else on earth, has used taxpayer resources to support the team.

When lobbyists donated thousands to a high school football foundation, Ford was ordered to pay the money back. He refused. He then voted on the resulting mess, and even gave a speech defending his willingness to take the money.

For that, he may well be removed as mayor. A judge’s decision is expected soon.

UPDATE: I just noticed that a few paragraphs I submitted are not in the version above. Here they are:

One time, while drunk at a Leafs game, he insulted a couple visiting from out of town – and then denied it when caught. Later, he likened Asian people to “dogs,” and apparently regarded it as a complement.

When running for Mayor, this newspaper found out Ford had been previously arrested in Florida for drunk driving and marijuana possession. When we asked him about it, he lied. Until confronted with the evidence, that is, and then he admitted to the run-in with the law.

Around the same time, he was caught on tape indicating his willingness to pick up a street drug for a junkie. Earlier, he suggested that if people are gay, they shouldn’t be surprised if they contract AIDS.

He has been photographed reading while driving on a Toronto highway. He has been accused of giving the finger to a child, again while driving.

18 Comments

  1. Patrick says:

    Didn’t find billions in gravy and wasted money on a report. In an economic decline there really isn’t much to brag about when people know there isn’t money in the till for raises and the unions are settle because they know they have to wait till next time. In the exact same climate Ford was whipped by the police and missed an opportunity to keep costs in check. Oh, and he was involved in this negotiation so the fail is on him. Contracting out garbage has been a constant stream of complaints for the company not being able to fulfil its contract. Perhaps it’s just start up issues. Or due to the lack of due diligence by Ford and his group they accepted a contract by a company that can’t do the job at the price they stated. Again, will money has now moved from the workers to private hands have you seen any reduction in your tax bill. You don’t start at 50 grand to clean buses, though you do end up there. I always find it curious that our grand capitalists can always scrounge for every dollar and profit from every bit of corporate welfare, but people can’t do the same. Further, getting the cleaners and any other worker you don’t approve of down to a minimum wage will destroy the city. It will become barren and dead because no one can afford to live or spend money beyond the bare essentials. Our marginal tax savings, if there is one, will do nothing for us but reduce people to living poverty, and increase the crime and social unrest that comes with it. The Sun fantasy that Toronto is a war zone will come true. Declaring the TTC essential puts them in the line with the police and when that contract comes up they will be demanding the same raise as the police. Great foresight by the Fordians. As for the future, even with his core fantasists, who see Ford as an icon of rage and justice and applaud and worship him as they do their other totems, unquestioningly, trained as they have been since birth in subservience, the significance of trinkets and magical solutions no matter the reality, Ford is dead and done and will not rise from the the death spiral of ineptness that he is on. The only question is will we have the pleasure of throwing him out or will he impale himself before we get the opportunity.

  2. Patrick says:

    Posted the above by accident. I usually copy what I write just in case I have problem with the website and I don’t want to have to start over. Thought I did that this time and ended up with another comment. Fortunately it’s about Ford. Dump it if it’s too off topic.

  3. !o! says:

    I like the comments the article is getting at the sun. It kinda underscores the point of the article nicely.

  4. pomojen says:

    The paragraphs that were initially left out contain truly head-shaking information that is still hard for me to believe I am reading. You just can’t make this stuff up.

    So, why left out? Too long? Too much truthiness? Just a mix up?

  5. ed_finnerty says:

    I see the latest poll results at the Globe and Mail indicate he has the support of 26% of the electorate. The astounding 27% rule apparently applies in Canada as well.

  6. deb says:

    I cant see how anyone conservative or liberal would support such a classless thug like Ford…its just baffling! I sure hope it isnt repeated. I read the sun comments, has canada become the idiocracy?:P It has to be sockpuppets from a few individuals putting out those comments.

  7. Michael says:

    In the suburbs, where most of Ford’s appeal lies, taxpayers want their garbage picked up on time, and their taxes kept low.

  8. Dude Love says:

    Problem is that you need to spend time in the suburbs and in a Tim Horton’s with the regular guy. Writing from a political ivory tower will not change the views of the man on street.

    • Philip says:

      What a crock. The “regular guy” and “the man on street” are a media constructions, nothing more, A convenient over-simplification that negates the complexities in every human being. I spent a lot of years working in factories and on farms and the one constant has been just how different and complex the people I worked with were. Stop diminishing the very people you claim to identify with. Countries aren’t run from a table in a donut shop either, reverse snobbery isn’t particularly clever.

      • Dude Love says:

        Dude! I just got back from working the family farm this week. Everything in life is an over simplification.

        ps. Support your local bee farmer. Without them, there will not be much in terms of life to argue over.

        • Warren says:

          Was explaining that to my kids. When bee pollination stops, we will all die.

          They were upset, needless to say.

          • Dude Love says:

            Political rhetoric seems trivial in the bigger scheme of not being able to put food on one’s table.

          • Dude Love says:

            FYI: for upset kids. There is pollination hope. Orchards are starting to use Blue Orchard Mason Bees which are solitary bees (no hives) don’t produce honey but are effective pollinators. An average honey bee visits about 700 blossoms a day but pollinates less then fifty percent of those blossoms. The Blue Orchard Bee visits on average 1,600 blossoms a day pollinating over ninety percent of the blossoms they visit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_bee

        • Philip says:

          So everything in life is an over-simplification now? Interesting. Life generally does not fit into broad sound bite friendly categories and neither in general do the people who are sitting around the table at Tim Horton’s that you allude to. Keep on painting those broad strokes though, it’s certainly easier than actually trying to admit that life is not always black and white.

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