[URBAN NOTE] "Desperate Conservatives embrace the Fords as time runs out"

[rfmcdonald]

The National Post's Chris Selley notes the desperation of Conservatives in the Toronto area. I dearly hope this will cost everyone involved votes.

When news of the event first broke, Harper wouldn’t even utter the Fords’ names in response to questions about it. He called them “those individuals.” For that reason and because, well, it’s Rob Ford for God’s sake, it was an open question just how much of a role the chuckle brothers would play in Saturday evening’s proceedings.

It was a big role. Doug spoke for nine minutes, eventually handing over to Richmond Hill MP Costas Menegakis to introduce the prime minister; Menegakis spoke for 90 seconds. At 8:15 pm, Rob tweeted a photo of a beaming Harper with the Ford family — Rob, Doug, their wives, mother Diane and kids. Before launching into his standard low-taxes spiel, which of late invites audiences to imagine Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne running the whole country, Harper even deigned to utter his hosts’ names. He thanked all the volunteers “including the Fords.”

And if the Conservative campaign hoped to foreground Doug over Rob, Doug made short work of that. “I’ll tell ya, Rob came up with this phrase, but nothing I can remember in a federal election is any more important than respect for taxpayers,” he thundered. “And there’s only one party that respects the taxpayer. And that’s the Conservative Party of Canada. And there’s only one leader to lead this country to prosperity, and that is Stephen Harper.”

So there you have it. Respect for Taxpayers — Rob Ford’s well-worn slogan, slapped unceremoniously onto the Conservative campaign like a crooked bumper sticker on an Escalade.