Dirty politics: Canadian mayor 'kicks children in the face'

Winnipeg&#039;s mayor, number 26, is seen here just moments before he accidentally kicks a kid in the face during a soccer game.

(Image credit: YouTube)

last updated 8 January 2015

The video: What some see as a legitimate campaign ad against Winnipeg's incumbent mayor, Sam Katz, notes that the mayor has accomplished little in his six years in office before abruptly declaring that Katz "kicks children in the face" over video footage of the mayor doing just that — albeit accidentally, in an organized soccer match in August. A spokesperson for Katz's chief opponent, Judy Wasylycia-Leis, tells The New York Times that her campaign is not responsible for the incendiary ad, and that, despite the American media attention it's receiving, "fortunately in Winnipeg the discussion has remained focused on more important issues."

The reaction: While The New Republic's Jonathan Chait appears to take the ad at face value — "You'd expect the Canadians to be more polite...." — Robert Mackey in The New York Times digs deeper and finds strong evidence that the "mock ad" (paid for by "the Friends of People Against the Kicking in the Face of Children") is "the work of a comedian." Whatever its origin, it's the "greatest political attack ad ever made," jokes Chris Spags at Guyism.com. "I would totally vote for [Katz] if he kicked everyone else's kids in the face... that's change I can believe in." Watch it for yourself: