Difficult to know what to make of Rob Ford’s decision not to take part in the Pride parade.
We can only speculate how the handlers must have wrestled with it. It would be natural to want to keep him from situations where he’s likely to face hostile crowds and be goaded into going off-message. On the other hand, there are those who argue that that sort of unmediated spontaneity is the source of his authenticity.
But suppose he marches and gets jeered or pelted with garbage or something. Pretty easy to turn that to his advantage, one would think: look, Rob Ford reached out and got abused by a bunch of queer elitist downtown socialists. Plays well to the base, no?
And if there aren’t any catcalls or overt hostility, he scores points for his unexpected display of inclusion, tolerance and outreach. Either way, he wins. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
But then I’m not part of Ford Nation, so what do I know?