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Pony: More election stuff and a package in the mail
11.6.2003
Hey, I came home last night, and there was a package waiting for me from Rich and Rachel (Mr. and Mrs Robot). Three bags of Peet's coffee beans(!!!!!) (for "the house of LOVERS", wrote Rich) and a mixed cd from Rich's Tape Club that I popped in the stereo immediately.
Thank you, guys! Snail mail is going to have its Renaissance. It is thrilling to get packages in the mail. Makes me jump up and down.
I watched yet another mayoral debate last night, this time on the CBC. Why do I watch these debates? I am a geek.
It was a relief that there was not a whooping, jeering audience in team t-shirts this time.
It was also a relief to see old co-workers manage the debate with an intelligent and unsensational tone. No embarassed-for-everyone twitches that made me hit mute like the City TV debate. The experience was bland but watchable.
Predictably, the three other candidate were busy lobbing tomatoes at David Miller, the frontrunner in the polls, and took little time to engage one another. Miller defended himself smoothly, but there few remarkable moments.
Everyone is kinda rehashing the same shit. The must be so sick of hearing themselves talk. I am sick of all of them, but I can't seem to look away.
I only saw the last half of the debate, but it looked like the strategy to bring Miller down with relentless scrutiny kind of backfired. It only served to give him more air time.
I have to say that Nunziata is one adorable little muppet with his hyper antics and puffed-up declarations. What pitzeleh.
Barbara Hall's speech impediment is more than a handicap. It is painful to hear her talk. But she did get in one good zing when she criticized Miller's campaign postcard: "looks like a mayor, acts like a mayor, talks like a neighbour."
She said it was offensive to the multicultural (yak, i am sick of that word) population to say that a mayor looks like a WASP.
Out of context, sure, but it is the job of strategists to imagine every context in which campaign slogans can be taken.
In an alternate universe, it would have been cool if Miller had looked at the postcard and said: "Whoa. You are totally right. In that context it is offensive and I will most certainly remove it from my mailings this week. Thank you for pointing that out."
Tory and Miller, someone mentioned, have interesting chemistry. Perhaps they share the same prep school background & waspy manners - I dunno. But Tory was consistent and articulate with his business-centred platform.
So who knows? I still feel pretty ignorant, and I have been following the campaign semi-closely for the past month or two. In the end, what does it matter who says what? If they vote, people go with the canditate who reminds them of themselves and their own ambitions:
Last night, in Kensington Market, I was buying some apples at Manuel's, who is from Portugal. His son (or nephew, I am not sure) put my groceries in a bag and said: "Don't forget to vote," pointing to the writing on the plastic that read "John Nunziata".
Some sites:
Toronto Votes (Dwight's site at the CBC)
Links via Trampoline Hall:
Vote Toronto - A detailed analysis of past voting records and campaign
contributions
Bike Toronto - Candidate survey & voting records:
Arts Vote - Candidates' support for cultural issues:
Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) - Candidates Report Card
Campaign for Public Education - Endorsements for School Trustee
CUPE 79 endorsements
