As IF Times

Quotes Of The Year 2013

As in every year, certain stories dominate the headlines for brief moments and for every story, there are usually memorable quotes.  Some are sage, some are inane and some are inadvertently funny.  Here is my recollection of some of the better quotes of the year, in no particular order, except for the one at the end which HAS to be the quote of the year.

“The world is running out of time”…Al Gore 1995, 1996, 1997,1998, 1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013.

“Lean in”…Sheryl Sandberg

“The Pope buys a 1984 Renault…now that’s a man who believes in the power of prayer”…Car Talk

““You quarterbacks, you get all the good-looking women. What a beautiful woman …
If you’re a youngster in Alabama, start getting the football out and throw it
around the backyard with pop.”…Brent Musburger

““I don’t want to live in a world where everything that  I say, everything I do,  everyone I talk to, every expression of creativity or love or friendship, is  recorded.” …Edward Snowden

“You don’t need an AR-15, it’s harder to aim, it’s harder to use…Buy a shotgun! Buy a shotgun!”…Joe Biden

“I’m a flawed character”…Lance Armstrong

“I’m basically the healthiest fat guy you’ve ever seen” …Chris Christie

“At this point, what difference does it make?’…Hilary Clinton

“If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it”… Barack Obama

And my vote for the quote of the year which will not likely be topped,

“I have more than enough to eat at home”…Toronto mayor Rob Ford

link Rob Ford crack scandal: What’s behind mayor’s ‘mind-boggling’ PR strategy? – Canada – CBC News.

Finally, something interesting happening in Canadian politics.  Rob Ford’s personal shortcomings and foilbles have even managed to make the headlines of all of the U.S. news outlets.  As is the case south of the 49th parallel, when a contentious issue comes to the fore, an easy shortcut to determine which side is the wrong side is to observe which side the ‘enlightened’ media favors.

In this case, the CBC and Toronto Star, long time vocal and strident critics of Ford’s are demanding that he step down.  Hmm.  On the one hand, a rough hewn, plain talking, crack smoking mayor and on the other, the notoriously left leaning CBC and Toronto Star.  Tough one.

Given that Mr. Ford has publicly admitted his shortcomings and has reduced the likelihood of further embarrassment to himself, (unless they find small boys chained in his basement), the CBC and Star are out of bullets.  What surely galls these two media sources the most is that Ford’s approval rating among voters has apparently gone up since his outing of being a crackhead!  When past Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was revealed to have smoked pot years ago, there wasn’t a clamor by the CBC for his resignation.  Indeed, his progeny, the Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has admitted the same, but no finger wagging there either.

Thus far, the voters are shrugging off this explosive revelation about Ford, because despite this ugly blotch on his character, he is still seen as the guy that is working on their behalf. Unlike voters in other parts, people in the Toronto region were tired of the corruption and ineptitude in their city before Ford was elected.  Ford’s charm for the people is that he appears to be one of them, not like the weather vane headed weasels that  are typically offered in politics.  He’s like a skinnier, blond, crack smoking Chris Christie, the recently re-elected New Jersey Governor.  They love him in those parts too.  Both of them are plain speaking, take no guff personalities who are obviously not vegetarians, the exact opposite of the effeminate, placating pols that populate public offices today.

You know that the quality of politicians has reached a low ebb when a character like Ford, with considerable and obvious warts, is still embraced by the electorate.  It may be that  people are just fed up with the usual cast of disingenuous ideologues that typically are in office.  The CBC and Toronto Star may feel that Ford’s behaviour is an affront to the dignity and credibility of Canadians.  On that score, they’re even.