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::thursday, november the sixth, two thousand and three
ANDREW SPICER BLOGS OVERTIME, again, with two in-depth posts. One is a response to Adam Sobolak's eulogy for Barbara Hall's campaign, anatomizing the failure of a candidate once seen as a sure thing, at least by left-leaning voters:
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Finally, I believe her overall shift in values has crippled her ability to say anything in this campaign. It is not just her apparent speaking handicap that has hurt her. I really did try to look past the style and explore the substance. But there was never much to it. I think if she had focused on defining an agenda instead of holding on to soft "not Mel" frontrunner status, she might have performed better.
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On another post, he sums up his take on the Toronto One debate at length. His support for Miller hasn't waned (I didn't expect it to), but he manages to see the silver lining in a dark cloud candidate:
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I particularly liked the personal questions that were asked. John Nunziata has run his campaign on a hard-core right wing platform, and has gone a bit overboard in his tactics, but I can't help but like him when he tells us that his favourite comfort food is a banana and that he wishes he was two feet taller.
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- Rick McGinnis - 12:29pm - link
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THE TSURIS FROM THE FRACAS IN DAVID JANES' COMMENTS SECTION, a heated discussion on multiculturalism, has spilled over into two of our participating blogs. Brett Lamb illustrated his reaction to the whole argument with a cartoon, and a link pointing to Kathy Shaidle's blog, saying that Kathy "makes Mike Harris look like a kindly, friendly tub-o-fun. ".
Kathy responds:
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Brett Lamb says I "equate being conservative with being bonkers." No, Brett: you equate being conservative with being bonkers. Try addressing my actual points without drawing little pictures or relying upon easy name calling.
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I'm not going to assume an unearned paternal stance and tell Brett and Kathy to play nice. Far from it - I started this blog to get people to hash our their political disagreements publicly, within the framework of our municipal election. It's one thing to see an American conservative living in California argue with a liberal living in New York over something a blogger in Iraq said about a French politician. In some baroque way, it's the only successful forum for globalization, at least so far. But we're all living here, concerned with the nuts-and-bolts issues of roads, buses, property taxes and schools, so the level of abstraction should diminish, at least a bit.
So Brett and Kathy - go ahead, argue. I'm mostly unmoved by hearing John Tory batter at David Miller in the debates, but two citizens - two voters - firing shots across each other's bows is far more compelling. This is, as far as I'm concerned, democracy in action, messy and aggrieved and personal. And, as George C. Scott said in Patton: "I love it. God help me, but I do love it."
- Rick McGinnis - 10:37am - link
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BOTH OF TORONTO'S ALT-WEEKLIES, the venerably leftist NOW and it's competition, the putatively more youthful eye weekly, have endorsed David Miller for mayor.
Big shock, says Marc Weisblott:
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As you can probably tell, all this miller love-in stuff is solidifying my own distance from the whole bohemian (post-bohemian?) mindset ... the idea that there's a particular code to follow in regard to cultural references, preferred hangouts, neighborhoods, etc. one that pays sufficient heed to
multi-culti/ethnic/sexuality considerations, yet is ultimately just another shade of bland bourgeois ...
Very nice that this set is so fretful over the preservation of 'arts', but
it's telling to me that nothing that resembles compelling MEDIA is being
spawned in those circles (and when it does surface on occasion, like lola
magazine, someone invariably tries to ramp things up to the point of
implosion).
I think it's reflected in our newspapers, the broadcast outlets, and i think
it's also reflected in the lack of anything that passes for a solidly
diverse blog-based society (a shortcoming that i will partly shoulder the
blame for to this point, but you're doing a good job of correcting)
but maybe i shouldn't be so focused on how these things get processed, and
just get out more often instead.
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- Rick McGinnis - 10:15am - link
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ON THE FRINGE, PART FOUR
NAIMJI, DURI: "Which one to hire for mayor? A costly fop or a cheap chap?" With a comma in his name, and conviction in his heart, Naimji is yet another candidate running for little
other apparent purpose than pointing out how ludicrous the process that excludes him is. But he's pushing for cricket to become a more dominant local sport which, given the foundering fortunes of professional baseball, basketball and football in this town over the last few years, perhaps isn't entirely irrational. If only all the other candidates could sum up their platforms as succinctly as Naimji does in his Situationist-inspired campaign
poster ...
FEN PETERS: He's actually been in the same room as four of the five non-fringe candidates, and has pictures to prove it. He's got a swell nickname in "Fightin' Fen", although his entire campaign exercise just seems a good-natured extension of his late-blooming public admin and poli sci studies. Which is fine, maybe his years of working as communications analyst for Bell Canada will get him a City Hall gig, and
somehow overthrow the last notable Bell hack, Mike Bullard, from the public consciousness.
BARRY PLETCH: Still more inconspicuous earnestness from the sidelines, except this one comes with a hunky actor's head shot and snazzy acronym: "Better Ethics and Economic Responsibility" -
if you want BEER, vote for Barry Pletch." But he's reneged on his promise to publish a weekly platform announcement, having missed the past seven installments as outlined on his main page. Sure, you can throw around quotes from Ghandi all you like, except no one wants another quitter in command.
- Marc Weisblott - 10:02am - link
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YESTERDAY
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