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| NOW magazine's "fiscally conservative" alternative to Rob Ford |
Those four words are all anyone really needs to know about David Soknacki, a former Scarboough City Councilor who was the budget chief for the former mayor who hiked taxes and spending in Toronto to astronomical levels.
The media is billing Soknacki, who has no known policies or ideas, as a "fiscal conservative. " How exactly do we know about Soknacki's "conservative" bona fides? Is it from his record? No.
The only evidence we have is that The Toronto Star and the hard-socialist weekly tabloid NOW magazine and some other media that detest the genuinely fiscal conservative Rob Ford tell us so.
The first time I heard of Soknacki was when I was speaking with a writer from The Toronto Star-owned BlogTO, who was extolling him as a sensible "fiscal conservative" alternative to Ford. That writer is both very left-leaning and despises Ford, which are traits that invariably go together in Toronto.
In fact, I haven't met anyone outside the media who had even heard of David Soknacki prior to a month ago. For all we know, he could be Sarah Thomson in drag. After all, has anyone seen Thomson and Soknacki in the same place at the same time?
The way that an unknown whose only accomplishment was to help Miller drive city spending through the roof is being lauded by media outlets that either hate fiscal conservativism, or hate Rob Ford, or both is particularly revealing.
Rob Ford's support is holding firm and a sanctimonious, self-obsessed Toronto media is already anxious that the man who they think has embarrassed Toronto could win a second term.
John Tory, as is his fashion, has been vacillating and hinting, without committing to entering the 2014 mayoral race, but odds are, like in the last election, he won't enter as long as Ford is running. Tory is intelligent and decent, but is a poor campaigner who has no real support base. He has never held elected public office other than a brief stint as an MPP prior to his leading the Ontario Progressive Conservatives to a devastating loss in the 2007 election, in which Tory also lost his seat.
With the prospect of Ford carrying the vote from Torontonians who still cringe at the thought of David Miller-era spending, taxes and total subservience to public service unions, the anxious media needed a faux-conservative sock puppet to bleed away those voters from Ford.
"Sock Puppet" Soknacki fit their bill. The clue is when The Toronto Star is friendly to what they tern a "right-leaning" candidate, it's a lot like when the Grand Ayatollah of Iran endorses a US presidential candidate. With friends like that, we should all be worried.
*LMAO*
ReplyDeleteAs I search social media I discover, more people are paying attention to politics than ever before. I see the usual riff raff (Ford, and conservative bashers, that mostly comprise of The Star, CBC, blogTO, and a couple of big handfuls of liberal lawyers, and citizens who seem to think everyone who isn't a Liberal, must be stupid, un-intelligent, or a troll). There's lots of Conservatives too, but what I'm paying attention to most are the fence sitters, many who are now considering leaning slightly right. The tide is changing, finally and thankfully.
I'm surprised that The Star is being so blatantly obvious. You'd think they'd be smart enough to get a new act. Oh who am I kidding, Daniel Dale (the new poster child for gay rights trumps everything else) works there (wonder if he runs blogTO?). The public no longer has faith in Liberal media, they know they're being lied to, and liberal agenda's are being forced upon them.
I don't know if Daniel Dale is gay, nor is it relevant to anything should he be.
ReplyDeleteBut As for The Star and much of the left-wing media, the extent of public trust in them is only waning.
Their use of newspapers to campaign against Ford has backfired. The number of people who say they would vote for Ford has gone up from 33% to 42% in the last 3 weeks. I wouldn't be surprised if that support goes above 50% in the next few months.
The comment I made about Dale working for the Toronto Star, is relevent to me, with regards to Liberal media (and GLAAD), forcing their lifestyles, in my opinion, on the public. It was sarcasm, just like in the stories you previously posted during the Rob Ford saga. You're no better than I so don't get self-righteous with me.
ReplyDeleteIf you are uncomfortable with my statements, don't post them, but don't tell me what to say, because one thing I'm known for is my outspoken nature, and honesty. If people have an issue with my difference of opinion from that of the government, arrest me.
Think I know now why no one posts here.
More likely, Ford does something stupid, criminal or both, and his support evaporates. And there's still the outside chance that he gets charged. What happens, for example, if Sandro Lisi flips on the big guy?
ReplyDeleteThere are also some factual issues in here regarding Tory.
In regards to his ratings, his show is still on the air and the same station cancelled Ford's. Funny that.
Also, Tory didn't "lose his seat" in '07. He had a safe seat in Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey, but made a stupid promise during the leadership campaign to run in 416.
Because of personal ties to the riding, he chose Don Valley West, where he lost to Kathleen Wynne.
Then there's his leadership of the Ontario PC's which no one can pull of these days, as the party more closely resembles the federal Liberals than anything else.
Of course, there's the issue of Tory's strength as it relates to Ford. Etobicoke Slim said in 2010 that he wouldn't run if Tory did. Then, when it looked like Tory was reconsidering in the summer, Nick Kouvalis went scorched earth on him in social media.
I'm not sure that would work a second time. Firstly because Nick works for John and knows the Ford team's tactics. And Ford's personal negatives are so stratospheric and this point that most folks would laugh them off.
As I'm sure you know, going negative only works if it brings your opponents negatives higher than your own.
If I were any of Etobicoke Slim's opponents, here's the tack I'd take;
"Council has relieved Rob Ford of all of his powers and there's no guarantee that a new mandate would get them back. He has exactly two remaining allies at City Hall and one of them isn't running again and the other has a giant tumor in his noggin.
A vote for Rob Ford is a vote for a mayor without authority. It's time for a change."
Everything in that is factual, irrefutable and reflective of political reality.
But I doubt it even gets that far. Ford will almost certainly either withdraw or blow himself up again by March, April at the latest.
Let me get this straight, Skippy. You're saying Ford will do something stupid and his support will evaporate??
ReplyDeleteYou should have given up that hope a long, long time ago. If that's all it took, he would have had to retire a long time ago, and as it stands, he's the odds-on favorite.
As For Nick Kouvalis, without getting into personal stuff, let's just say I'm not the least bit worried about him being on someone else's team. The guy is not a political genius. The loss of Mark Towhey is much more serious, and I still think Ford will win despite that.
And Shirley, I guess your sarcasm was way too subtle for me, as evidently I missed it. As for telling you what to say and the rest, I'm not sure where you're getting that, or is that more sarcasm that's just flying by me?
Let me get this straight, Skippy. You're saying Ford will do something stupid and his support will evaporate??
ReplyDeleteYou should have given up that hope a long, long time ago. If that's all it took, he'd be retired by now, and as it stands, he's the odds-on favorite.
As For Nick Kouvalis, without getting into personal stuff, let's just say I'm not the least bit worried about him being on someone else's team. The guy is not a political genius. The loss of Mark Towhey is much more serious, and I still think Ford will win despite that.
And Shirley, I guess your sarcasm was way too subtle for me, as evidently I missed it. As for telling you what to say and the rest, I'm not sure where you're getting that, or is that more sarcasm that's just flying by me?
The odds on favorite according to whom? Forum Research?
ReplyDeleteRecent history would indicate that's the kiss of death for Ford. Ask Adrian Dix or Danielle Smith.