"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Sunday 18 March 2012

Nincompoopery

Last night a headline on  the screen of  a twenty-four-seven news channels  read:

New polls indicate Mayor Rob Ford continues to enjoy high ratings
for his performance but not enough to win an election.

We  assume the person who wrote that has a degree or a certificate of some sort . It's the week-end so  they may not have permanent full-time employee status. Still they are employed to write material germaine to particular expertise.

The statement would have subliminal  influence.

So what does it say?

 If there was an election today, despite  high ratings ,Mayor Ford would lose.

Where's the logic?

If Mayor Ford was unchallenged in the election, would he  lose?

If  six candidates competed for the job , would the Mayor be certain  to lose?

May we assume  platforms offered by  other candidates be bound to trump the policies that give high ratings to Mayor Ford ?

If the main challenger in the race was a  prominent Liberal politicians, backed by deep Liberal pockets, nationally and provincially. in Tory Blue Toronto, would Mayor Ford lose  in exactly the circumstances  that delivered victory in the previous election?

The  last  question coming to mind; is  how can  the media employ a person to write political commentary with  intent to  influence people, who clearly knows nothing whatsoever about Toronto's municipal  politics?

Or any politics at all ?

Many, many factors, including the individual judgement of several million voters in Toronto will decide two and a half years from now
whether or not Mayor Rob Ford will be re-elected to his office in 2014.

Not the least will be quality, credibility and status of  a single candidate who seeks to challenge and force him from office.

Rob Ford is doing what he said he would. From this distance, he rises to the dignity of the Mayor's office.

He can have disappointed no-one. Not the people who voted for him or those  who  voted against him. Or the public sector unions.

Whatever else Rob Ford is and continues to be, true to himself.

People like that in a candidate.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Funny how I have not met ANYONE who will admit to voting for Ford???

Anonymous said...

I don't know why or how you continue to be in love with Ford.

He was possibly the better of two bad choices.

The Toronto press had a great love-in for him and Ford-nation.

Such clap-trap.

He shoots off from his mouth without the semblance of a thought travelling through his mind.

What has he actually accomplished for Toronto in the past 15 months?

His fawning acolytes are deserting in droves, the press is out for his hide, and lots there is.

Do you still swoon for him?

The media these days are comprised of knuckleheads totally unqualified to perform the jobs for which they are hired.

And now the former Harper chief-of-staff, Ian Brodie, 2006 - 2008, refers to the robo-call scandal as on a scale he's never seen before and warrants a "huge investigation."

Politics has always been a dirty game. We are fortunate to have had as a part of our recent history the man with the obsession, Pierre Elliot Trudeau. You got this one right.

But spare the praise for the third rate mediocrity that comprises the majority of elected officials.

Anonymous said...

"Funny how I have not met ANYONE who will admit to voting for Ford???"

Or Morris.....