Andrew Coyne contends that Rob Ford isn't a self-made catastrophe but, to a great extent, the result of enablers, strategists following the neo-conservative playbook.
...there Mr. Ford sits, immovably: disgraced, largely powerless, but still the mayor. Is that his fault? The city’s? Or is it the fault of those who put him there in the first place, and sustained him through the long train wreck that followed: the staff who failed to report his misdeeds; the commentators who excused them; the partisans who ignored them. Disasters on the Ford scale, we are taught, do not just happen, and while the mayor’s endless supply of lies, manipulativeness and sheer chutzpah have helped to preserve him in office until now, he could not have done it alone.
And of all his enablers, the most culpable are the strategists, the ones who fashioned his image as the defender of the little guy, the suburban strivers, against the downtown elites, with their degrees and their symphonies — the ones who turned a bundle of inchoate resentments into Ford Nation. Sound familiar? It is the same condescending populism, the same aggressively dumb, harshly divisive message that has become the playbook for the right generally in this country, in all its contempt for learning, its disdain for facts, its disrespect of convention and debasing of standards. They can try to run away from him now, but they made this monster, and they will own him for years to come.
Get help? He’s had plenty.
11 comments:
How many posts will you write today to try to force other bloggers off the front page today? Your selfishness is nauseating. Get a life loser.
Anony-mouse, you're back! I'm not "trying" to do anything you silly little shit. What I'm doing is writing the sort of progressive stuff that there's never really enough of on these sites. If your stuff was any good, it would make it to the 'most votes' list long before it slipped from the front page.
Here's an idea. Why don't you harness your vitriol and use the scavenged energy to write a little more, perhaps something that might get noticed for its merit instead of relying on how long it languishes on the front page?
Dear Anonymous,
As my frail grey haired grandma used to tell me, "If you do not have anything nice to say, FUCK OFF.
Willy, now don't sugar coat it.
Gotta be a dipper. Just gotta be.
Has to flatten everything out so even the mediocre and stupid can appear brilliant.
Fuck off, anonymouse, back to your miserable hole in the wall.
I'd rarely glance twice at the likes of Andrew Coyne if it weren't for folks like MOS slogging through the dross of social commentary and highlighting what remains up on their blog. Much as I hate to give him any credit, Coyne is right, politics is a cynical game run by oligarchs who are playing people against each other.
Kudos to you Mound for allowing anonymous commenting. The odd troll is worth the price for the freedom it gives people.
What is this front page that people are speaking of?
It seems that Coyne has left one of the chief group of enablers out of the equation, Mound - the good citizens of Toronto who couldn't be bothered to vote in the last election, thus ceding victory to the unhinged known as Ford Nation.
Elliott, I think he's referring to the first page of Progressive Bloggers where posts continually move down the page as new posts are filed. It obviously touches a nerve with this rather sensitive fellow.
Lorne, the same argument holds true for Harper.
`The Disaffected Lib`should be considered required reading for Canadian progressives.
First Anon. should take a fishing trip with Ford.
1:55 Anon has it right.
My, my, my such wonderful language. But that's ok because you are all so very educated, informed, wise, correct, and oh so mannerly journalists. Except when at parties with the right people like Mr. Harper right?
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