Embattled Toronto mayor Rob Ford—the only major North American leader whose name, when Googled, auto-suggests the word “crack” as part of the search—is in Texas right now. Specifically, he’s here for the first day of the Austin City Limits Festival, where he’s on a “trade mission” to learn tips about the Austin music industry that he can take back to Toronto. He’s also accompanied by a host of Canadian press, most of whom are more interested in talking with the mayor about drug allegations (a friend of the mayor’s was arrested on drug charges this week) than about what the Toronto music scene hopes to gain from his visit to Austin.
Austin residents don’t seem to have much to say about Rob Ford’s visit, which led the Toronto Star to report hilarious quotes from various Texans interviewed about the mayor and his city that didn’t make them sound particularly well-informed. (“He was voted best-dressed,” one said of the, er, not well-dressed Ford, though it’d be a fair way to describe designer Tom Ford.) Although that’s also a bit unfair—how much do Toronto residents know about Austin mayor Lee Leffingwell?
In any case, the reactions to Rob Ford’s visit to Texas are revealing about both what our Canadian counterparts think of Texas, and what the Texans who are familiar with Ford think of his alleged drug-abusing persona.
Image via Toronto Sun reporter Don Peat’s twitter account.
