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Originally Posted by geotag277
Finally, this type of rhetoric sounds very familiar:
"Bush was a terrible president but at least he cared and did some good, Trump is an unstable misanthrope who will only bring chaos and destruction!".
In reality, Bush started two needless damaging expensive wars, and these rhetorical devices are used more as political sensationalism than effective elucidation regarding the political choice at hand.
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I'm not sure how this is relevant, but I've been attacked online multiple times for pointing this exact fact out - I'm personally baffled at the resurgent love affair with George Bush simply because he seemed likable and was "presidential".
Maybe it wasn't clear but I was specifically referring to Rob's tenure as city Councillor, where he did not have the ability to guide the agenda for Council. He did focus on local issue (albeit badly) and aside from throwing tantrums didn't really overstep his bounds. The story was different as mayor, even though it was largely characterized by inaction, as opposed to whatever the analogy would be using Bush.
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Originally Posted by geotag277
Doug Ford's political enemies seem all at once falling over themselves to equate him with his brother, and at the same time talking out of the other side of their mouth about how Doug Ford is actually an even worse catastrophe.
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This would be fair, except that Doug repeatedly invokes his brother when citing his supposed successes in government. I'm having trouble finding the exact quote but when he announced he was running for leadership he touted his experience in politics as being the brother of the former mayor of Toronto. And because he was in that unique position had direct management of the city's budget.
The same is true with the Matt Elliott article I posted (largely because I knew exactly what the response would be). Taken out of context it seems trite, but it followed an excruciatingly repetitive pattern of behaviour from Doug. I don't expect you to have followed Toronto politics at the time, but trying to take credit for something Rob did which in reality had little connection to his policies as mayor was endemic with Doug.
I wouldn't be surprised if Doug unironically considers himself the Dick Cheney behind Rob Ford as Bush.
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Originally Posted by geotag277
His biggest policy failure was a too-ambitious unrealistic redevelopment project? That doesn't seem all that bad, all things considered.
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Again, I don't expect you to have followed Toronto politics but that's not a very good characterization of what happened. He attempted to scuttle what is arguably the largest redevelopment plan in Toronto's history that has support of all levels of government - even across party lines. This was done through quite literal backroom meetings with developers he made false promises to and would have resulted in considerable personal gain if went through. The whole process was possibly illegal (albeit not worth pursuing), certainly corrupt and had the end result of turning the city against the Ford's. So I suppose you could even credit Doug with ruining his brothers career... or at least initiating the beginning of the end.
FWIW I'm not trying to convince anyone online not to vote for Doug. In person I would articulate things differently but I honestly don't see the point on the internet, particularly in this day and age.