2014 Municipal Election: Toronto Mayoral Race

[JKDM]

I know you're a Tory booster, but if you look at Soknacki and see "aggressive" our eyeballs are seriously wired differently.

I thoroughly dislike the way the man moves his face and body when he speaks.

He jabs and pecks his head aggressively back and forth ... it's like he's trying to ... PECK. SOMEONE. WITH. HIS. NOSE. OR. BASH. SOMEONE. WITH. HIS. FOREHEAD. *making a pecking, jabbing motion*

He's very know-it-all-ish/"I'm smarter than you!" ... and it's annoying.

 

[jml]

That's a pretty silly problem to have with somebody.

imo, Soknacki's current popularity online seems to come from the fact that he's the anti-anti-politician. For years, eggheads like Soknacki have been passed over for "more authentic" outsider/everyday folk candidates, the irony always being that that authenticity is usually carefully cultivated. Somebody who embraces eggheaded politicianness ends up seeming more real to a certain generation in today's Toronto. Unabashed know-it-all-ism becomes attractive to some when the currency for so long has been proud no-nothing-ness.

 

[JKDM]

That's a pretty silly problem to have with somebody.

imo, Soknacki's current popularity online seems to come from the fact that he's the anti-anti-politician. For years, eggheads like Soknacki have been passed over for "more authentic" outsider/everyday folk candidates, the irony always being that that authenticity is usually carefully cultivated. Somebody who embraces eggheaded politicianness ends up seeming more real to a certain generation in today's Toronto. Unabashed know-it-all-ism becomes attractive to some when the currency for so long has been proud no-nothing-ness.

Oh, stop. Unabashed know-it-all-ism is an ugly quality.

At least I was being honest with you in regards to why I don't like him. I'm hardly alone.

Soknacki's current "popularity" (I guess) is largely because he's a Scarborough resident who opposes the 3-stop Bloor-Danforth extension. Progressives absolutely love that about him.

 

[jml]

Oh, stop. Unabashed know-it-all-ism is an ugly quality.

I was using your terminology. I don't personally find Soknacki a know-it-all and think that's a pretty lame criticism of a candidate who's brought a lot of interesting policy ideas into the campaign.

At least I was being honest with you in regards to why I don't like him. I'm hardly alone.

I'm supposed to respect your shallow, mean-spirited reasons for disliking a candidate because you express them unabashedly?

The times I've met John Tory in person I've felt his posture was sort of weird, hunched. But if I brought this up as a criticism of him, I wouldn't expect much I said to be taken seriously.

Soknacki's current "popularity" (I guess) is largely because he's a Scarborough resident who opposes the 3-stop Bloor-Danforth extension. Progressives absolutely love that about him.

Soknacki's stance on the LRT was absolutely one of the early things that drew younger progressives to him, but it goes beyond that. Toronto politics is a noisy circus right now & Soknacki stands out as the clearest contrast to that of all the candidates. I think a lot of the hype about him is overblown, but he obviously appeals to a certain type of voter.

(Luckily for you that type of voter is only like 7% of the city.)

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Forgetting for the moment that the Miller 7 years were full of great accomplishments, what in the world would lead someone to think Ford's "direction/perspective" was anything other than complete BS? You'd have to be completely blinded by political ideology to not see that his fiscal policy was pure fiction.

But yea...your tale is a very common one. I know someone very well who was so blinded with hatred towards Miller (or anything deemed "left" for that matter), that voting for Ford was just a knee-jerk reaction. Basically, if you found yourself feeling that kind of extreme hatred towards someone like David Miller...then you have a very big problem.

+1. My right-wing friends' loathing of Miller was almost unfathomable. It was visceral -- there were two things about it that play against Soknacki, however. One is that a big chunk of it was thinking Miller was an insufferably arrogant know-it-all. The other was a complete refusal to see two sides on any issue, but particularly transit (and I include the Island Airport under that heading). The garbage strike was the excuse, but the transit issue and taxes were the reason behind the hatred.

Luckily, unless they're lying, almost all the Ford voters have conceded that they won't vote twice for a crackhead Mayor who can't be trusted with anything. I'd expect all or most of them will vote Tory -- more establishment, not insane, but still right wing.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

I don't understand campaign strategy for everyone but Ford. Are they waiting to attack him after Labour Day? Why would you not, when he declares himself 'King of TCHC', would you not rebut by saying, "Rob, you lie, man. You said yourself, to the newspaper, that the reason you didn't come to City Hall in the morning was that you were hungover, not that you were 'calling constituents' or 'meeting residents'?" Why the reticence?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

What's wrong if know-it-alls if they know their stuff? Can we stop this trend towards fetishizing ignorance just so that we can feel better about ourselves please?

AoD

 

[freshcutgrass]

That's a pretty silly problem to have with somebody.

Made even sillier when you consider this opinion comes from someone who felt the behaviour of one Rob Ford falls within their comfort zone.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

What's wrong if know-it-alls if they know their stuff? Can we stop this trend towards fetishizing ignorance just so that we can feel better about ourselves please?

AoD

Made even sillier when you consider this opinion comes from someone who felt the behaviour of one Rob Ford falls within their comfort zone.

You guys are elitist and out of touch with the common man /sarc!

 

[freshcutgrass]

What's wrong if know-it-alls if they know their stuff? Can we stop this trend towards fetishizing ignorance just so that we can feel better about ourselves please?

AoD

But you are asking ignorance to go against it's own nature. Good luck

 

[ShonTron]

And what about a centrist? We've got 4 Conservatives and a socialist? (I'm not going to count Thomson).

Soknacki is has progressive transporation policies (supports most cycling infrastrucutre, unlike Tory, and seeks savings by taking on the police budget, and has been talking about carding and police records holding, things Chow is too timid to talk about. (Miller, once he got rid of Fantino, did very little to disturb that hornet's nest.)

To revise what I said earlier, Chow is the darling of the Establishment Left, but not so much among the small-l left-leaning urban progressives.

 

[freshcutgrass]

+1. My right-wing friends' loathing of Miller was almost unfathomable. It was visceral

That's how you know you must be doing something right!!

a big chunk of it was thinking Miller was an insufferably arrogant know-it-all. The other was a complete refusal to see two sides on any issue, but particularly transit (and I include the Island Airport under that heading). The garbage strike was the excuse, but the transit issue and taxes were the reason behind the hatred

And the result is...the guy who said he'd reduce taxes and improve services...has done exactly the opposite. Have those people changed their minds now? I bet they haven't, even though the evidence is undeniable.

But I think it went deeper than fiscal issues. Miller and Ford are similar in the fact that they can be in-your-face on their stance on social issues.....Miller's pro LGBT move of posing in leather on the cover of FAB magazine vs Ford's long standing flagrant anti LGBT campaign.

 

[justindw]

Oh, stop. Unabashed know-it-all-ism is an ugly quality.

At least I was being honest with you in regards to why I don't like him. I'm hardly alone.

Soknacki's current "popularity" (I guess) is largely because he's a Scarborough resident who opposes the 3-stop Bloor-Danforth extension. Progressives absolutely love that about him.

You keep asserting that, and I'm not sure it's true. I like him because he is willing to talk about the TPS budget; acknowledges that it might sometimes be necessary to tax things; he went to ComicCon (there's a lot of identity politics in Toronto, and I've decided I should therefore chose my sides, too); seems capable of working with other councillors (which is something that those who voted for Ford seemed to completely miss); and seems, on the whole, like a pretty bright guy.

The Scarborough subway, while I'm opposed to it, isn't some sort of litmus test for me. If Socnacki supported it he'd still be my favourite.

 

[Roy G Biv]

I think all those people who "kinda" like Soknacki, but probably won't end up voting for him, should donate to his campaign. If you want him to gain momentum, he needs money. I am in this camp, and will probably donate tonight.

 

[rbt]

I think all those people who "kinda" like Soknacki, but probably won't end up voting for him, should donate to his campaign. If you want him to gain momentum, he needs money. I am in this camp, and will probably donate tonight.

Good point. Done.

I agree that I probably won't be voting for him but I do wish some other candidates would pickup pieces of his message.