Just a reminder as to why Rob Ford is actually dangerous (it's not the crack!):

[Saviolo]

Please see here: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/07/13/mayor_rob_ford_silently_votes_against_every_community_grants_program_again.html

This article from July notes that Rob Ford votes against just about every community grant that crosses his desk. Not because the city is going to provide those services and he's afraid of being double-charged, but because he doesn't figure the poor and the sick deserve to be helped.

From the article:

Mayor Rob Ford has continued his annual tradition of voting against every one of the city’s community development grants programs.

The six programs would have sailed through council unanimously on Friday, without a vote, had Ford not placed a “hold” on the items in order to vote against them. He lost the votes 34-1, 34-1, 33-1, 34-1, 35-1, and 35-1.

This is before all of the crack scandal broke, and before all of the chaos surrounding it muddied the water. Hint, everyone, it's -not about the crack!- That's really just a symptom of the bigger problem that Rob ford doesn't care about the city of Toronto as people, only as wallets. That's why he always refers to the citizens of Toronto as taxpayers, and not as citizens.

More from the article:

Rob Ford is an ardent advocate of small government. As a lone-wolf councillor, he railed against grants on the council floor and on talk radio, characterizing them as “free money” given by taxpayers to community groups running ineffective or odd programs that don’t deserve city support.

Councillor Shelley Carroll, an opponent, said Ford was “cowardly” for not explaining his votes. She also argued that his stance is at odds with his political philosophy. The community groups, she said, offer important services the city therefore doesn’t have to provide at a higher cost.

“This is contracting out, in a sense, and I do not know why that wouldn’t be attractive to someone like the mayor,” she said.

Ford voted the same way on the grants programs last July, also in silence. He lost 43-1 in votes on four programs, 42-2 on the fifth, and 41-3 on the sixth. He also lost 37-1 last July in a vote on anti-HIV/AIDS grants. He supported an HIV prevention grant this week.

Rob Ford is the very picture of wealthy white privilege. He has his, and why should the poor get a dollar from the all-important taxpayer? But he's very good at optics. The very communities he's voting against helping love him because he shows up in his SUV dropping toys off at a fundraiser, or he'll very vocally help one or two high profile people affected by his own new policies to show, yes, he really does care.

It's complete bullshit. He has no interest in helping people less fortunate in the city of Toronto. He'd have every poor person who's ever touched a crack pipe imprisoned, while in his own world, the past is the past, and why should he apologize for something he can't change?

[Blue Owl]

1. You know what the poor folks get, Tommy?

Jack freaking SQUAT!!!

<>

[Joe Shlabotnik]

2. Rob Ford is not the enemy, Ford Nation is.

The hypocrisy of the 'tough on crime agenda' which you refer to in your last paragraph is notable too, because a significant segment of Conservative voters care more about busting unions and further disenfranchising the already disadvantaged.

Regarding the Anti-ford rally the other day, Socialist.ca noted that the Left really must step up:

But almost nobody else discussed any of Ford’s policies, and no placards or chalk signs opposed his cuts. The speakers did not include city workers, social housing advocates, transit users (who are campaigning against a looming fare hike), or others who have been directly targeted by Ford’s cuts to jobs and services, and there was no mention of the urgent need and recent mobilization to stop tar sands flowing through Toronto. Instead most of the slogans opposed Ford’s individual behaviour of lying, bullying and corruption, squandering the opportunity to elevate this fight from one of personalities to politics.

http://www.socialist.ca/node/1987

[Saviolo]

3. It's always been my biggest complaint against Ford

That he protects those that are not in need of protection. From the start, with his "War on Cars" rhetoric, protecting those poor disadvantaged drivers in the face of the terrible transit riders and cyclists. Absolute codswallop.

As long as people are harping on his behaviour, his entire platform could still potentially be passed through city council. He's cost the city so much already with the cancellation of already-funded transit solutions and crazy council votes that ended in worst-case-scneario transit service for Scarborough.

We need a Bill Clinton-like figure to come in and say "It's the economy, stupid!" here in Toronto, about Rob Ford.

[riverbendviewgal]

4. I like Bill Maher's description of the Ford brothers

Porto potties.