Silly Little Country

Rob Ford is our Mayor!

Some comments from some other bloggers.

Scaramouche! in a post rightly referring to Hope and Change (which goes both ways):

I have a message this morning for Americans: Take heart, friends. If a fat right-winger who's loathed, derided and demonized by a mainstream media that moved heaven and earth to elect the other guy, a "sophisticated" elitist lefty (one of their own, in other words)--even going to the extent of engaging in what, after the fact, appears to be some dubious polling--and the hoi polloi ignored it all and handed the fat dude a commanding victory, I predict that one week from now the Obama Democrats will be wiped out by the same kind of 'slide.

That characterization of the campaign is pretty much correct.
From Kelly McPartland in the National Post:

Like approximately 96% of the media, Smitherman’s people just couldn’t believe anyone would actually vote for Ford. The guy was a clown, right? He only had one message: Stop Spending So Much Money! You can’t win with a message that simple, can you? Voters want more — they want a vision. They want to know how you’re going to keep taking their city forward, on a going-forward basis.
Except this time they didn’t. They just wanted some basic competence. Less attitude, less self-congratulation, fewer retirement parties paid for on their dime. They wanted someone more concerned about getting the buses to run properly and clearing up the traffic mess, than about dinging taxpayers for their legal bills and opening high-priced environmental offices in London so foreign people could see them. They wanted a hint that the guy in charge had some remote appreciation of what they go through trying to navigate a city that seems less connected to practicalities with every passing day.

It was a pretty ugly campaign. I always make my lawn available to anyone who asks to put up a sign, and only the Ford campaign asked. My sign was defaced - love those lefties and their tolerance. The replaced sign was ripped out of my lawn and tossed on the neighbor's lawn. Love them even more. The subtle smears in the campaign likely simply entrenched Ford's position, I suspect; they did nothing to move me, and may have even earned him more votes.
Well it's over. Now it will be interesting to see how the Council, also transformed and, particularly, Bussin-free (congratulations Ms. McMahon!), will work.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 7:46 AM