I think you nailed it.
Another consideration that some people don't like to hear is that Chow, as left wing candidate and a woman has the most to lose by turning off centre-right votes. I though she out of all of them did attempt to hint at Ford's issues (based on what I read -not the actual debate as I didn't see it). Her position is precarious because she' polling well and doesn't want to turn anyone off.
I think this is very true. And she was the hardest on him. She is clearly his most formidable opponent, and yet, as the sole left wing candidate, the easiest for him to dismiss. This makes her role in confronting him rather problematic.
However they handle it, I really hope they drop the folksy approach as their way of referencing his unfitness for public office. There’s something cloying and school-marmish about their “no role model for my grand daughters†shtick. I just don’t see ‘the outrage and disappointment of a grandmother’ to be anywhere near good enough.
I've said this before but if you have not run for public office, or worked closely with someone who did, it's hard to understand how difficult it is to do exactly the right thing. Once a candidate indicates they are running, the emails, letters and phone calls from concerned citizens and whacko's begin to flood in. Some of them act like "you" are their blessed saviour, and others are incredibly hostile. Everyone offers advice and opinions and wants to stop them to talk about politics. The media writes things that don't square with what people are telling you and sometimes what they report is just wrong.
No doubt. I know I actively resisted the urge to contact the friend of mine who is very high up in Chow’s campaign team to offer my version of “Wtf man!! This is what you
need to do to winâ€.
I also don’t doubt being in the thick of a big campaign is incredibly disorienting, and it must be extremely difficult to know the 'when and what' of pulling the trigger on a direct attack on your opponent. And women do have a harder time of it. Shrill, harridan, harpy, the B word, etc. are all forever waiting in the wings.
There’s also the problem of the ‘wit of the staircase’, and the sense of lost opportunity when one is seen to miss the perfect opening or line of attack. For some, this can really increase under pressure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'esprit_de_l'escalier
Finally some people truly don’t know how to go for the jugular. They just don’t. It’s not who they are. I truly hope Chow has it in her, when the moment and the need does arise.
I've been there and I can tell you that by the end, the candidates are exhausted, mentally and physically. I know everyone loves to pile the hate on for politicians (and some of them deserve it) but it takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there in such a public way knowing that all that time, money and effort may be for nothing - or worse it could hurt you financially for years to come in lost job opportunities with people who are far too partisan. Today I am still called "that Liberal woman" where I live which ticks me off because I tend to vote for candidates, not political brands.
I say it's way too early to heap scorn on these candidates or to declare Ford a viable option. He's not and by election day, we'll be saying "Ford who?" as we congratulate the new Mayor.
i agree that no real harm was done last night. They could have gone all, “I’ll tear his eyes out, I’ll rip his throat out†etc. and we would still be six months or whatever it is to the finish line.
The sad fact is that Rob Ford
is going to benefit from these debates some of the time. In a certain sense, he is
always going to benefit, because it humanizes him, makes him seem less insane. And the setting, with him standing side by side with normal human beings, dressed like a normal human being, is alway going to be useful to him because he does, on some level, still resemble a human being.
In a perfect world, he will turn up for at least a few off them totally hammered, and that would help take the 'benefit by association' factor down a notch.
