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Rob Ford's Toronto

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euler said:
Let's not get too rampant with the speculation as you guys often do. He was cited for jaywalking, likely public intox, pictured at a pub looking wasted. Saying "maybe he had drugs on him!" is just silly at this point. You don't need random speculation, he practically writes these headlines himself.

My only question is, why didn't he get taken to the drunk tank? Who gets a ticket for public intox and is just allowed to carry about their business?

Not to defend Robbie but I'd want to get wasted if I was staying in Coquitlam too.
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He probably didn't get taken to the drunk tank because the incident happened across the street from where he was staying. He was probably just told to go back to his room.
 
thedeepend said:
Sadly, many people mistake rough hewn stupidity for honesty. The precondition for this occurrence is that said people are also, themselves, stupid.

While normal people see in Ford a man with the small vocabulary of an assholic dim-witted teenager; a man of towering incompetence and staggering ineptitude when it comes to using language and speech in a meaningful way; a man with profound cognitive disabilities, and a stunning and frightening lack of awareness. However, to the mouth-breathers who persist in his defense, he is a "straight shooter", someone who "tells it like it is", and gives you the "unvarnished truth" without "all the BS". Stupid is as stupid does i'm afraid.

As for attack ads--there better be attack ads. Big, aggressive, go for the jugular attack ads. Ads that call Rob Ford out in a highly aggressive, inflammatory and detailed way, and force the him to confront the Cast of a Thousand Skeletons that have been escaping from his closets over the last 8 months.

Entire ads need to be based around the "Murderous Rant" video, the images of the Lisi drop offs, the drunk driving, the months of lies before he copped to Crack. Tory might have to hire some Americans to make sure it gets done right.
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There doesn't even need to be any voiceover in the ads. Just show the videos over and over until everyone finally gets it through their thick skulls.
 
Was RoFo stopped on his way to the pub, or on his way back from it? Judging by photos making the rounds he would have had a hard time sounding "clear" to Joe W if the latter.
 
Blast from the past or what! Thanks for that. The Mael brothers were true iconoclasts. The keyboard-playing brother is just strange - like a coy robotic Hitler. I love the fact that the blonde guitarist is rocking a Guild S-100. I have one of those, from '71 - my first guitar and still my favourite. Great guitars.
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OK, back to RoFo. The problem with those attack ads is that they don't pack enough of a punch. The signature song at the end, the Sparks tune - it's a great song but it's ancient (it was always somewhat obscure and on the pop fringes, even back in the day) and it just won't resonate with young voters. No one save 50-somethings and older are likely to remember Sparks and his voice is so high-pitched it's hard to make out just what he's singing. The concept is great but another anthemic song is needed to bring the message home - something far more contemporary. If you're going to do attack ads, you better pack heavy ammo and target your munitions precisely; nothing is worse than a lame attack ad.
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Really, what's next? Doolittle's book is coming out, excerpts area already available... it's bound to stir up more Fordian excrement. And Trainwreck Rob is in Vancouver this weekend, living down to his image in fine form. You just couldn't make this stuff up.
 
TJ O'Pootertoot said:
Yeah, there's basically ideologues and people who are too disinterested or stupid to really pay attention. It shouldn't be news that most people pay far less attention to this stuff than the insular world here at UT. There is no dispute - by any objective measure - he is neither honest nor intelligent. Anyone who believes otherwise is as wrong as someone who believes certain races are genetically inferior or, as Johnny Au said, someone who thinks the world is flat.

Luckily, I think this group is smaller than most people (and polls) suggest. They're not what got Ford elected; it was the people who didn't like Miller but were willing to excuse some rough spots on the guy who did that. Those people are done with him. I don't think there is a single person who still supports Ford who can be convinced to do otherwise at this point. The flipside is I don't think there's anyone done with him who, you know, was waiting to see what kind of budget he'd produced. If the unemployment rate magically dropped to zero tomorrow, Carol Wilding would still denounce him and Kathleen Wynne wouldn't be seen with him.

All those battlelines are drawn. That's what Ford doesn't get as he campaigns in suburban TCH buildings; he preaches only to the converted now and the people who take photos with him are doing it as joke; just watch the Global video of the guy in Vancouver! He's a human punchline who thinks visibility is popularity and legitimacy. It will be a rude, rude awakening for him on Oct. 28 when the last thread to which he has desperately clung - that despite the media and council he is doing the right job; the job the taxpayers want him to do - is cut.

I'd clarify that I want ads that nail him to the wall, repeatedly and explicitly, but I don't want American-style attack ads. Getting down in the mud to fight with these guys is not the solution. They're so down in the muck that you can take the high road and still kick them in the proverbial teeth, is the good news.
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I agree on all points. I've stopped being much worried at all that he'll get re-elected. By no mathematical gymnastics can he repeat his original victory. Way too many of his first time supporters are never ever coming back. What remains a threat is a fluke vote split. But with that in mind, candidates for 2014 could virtually ignore Ford and just campaign amongst themselves because they won't take many of his supporters and it's safe that the majority of Toronto wouldn't vote for him. However, campaigns do matter and Ford might have a chance at regaining a small portion of support, enough to make a difference in a very equal split between the two frontrunners. Ford 31% Chow 30% Tory 30% Other 9%. It could happen.

...But I'm content with our odds. My big concern is to see Ford not only lose but come out completely demolished with reality slamming him in the face like a tonne of bricks. I don't just want him out, I want him never to come back. A humiliating loss (3rd or 4th place) might just do that.

Once he's gone, the new Mayor and City Council need to get to work on making changes so that another Rob Ford never happens again. Ranked ballots, term limits, impeachment and ethical rules/consequences with real teeth. That's a quadruple lock that will definitively slay the monster that has been Rob Ford.
 
MetroMan said:
Once he's gone, the new Mayor and City Council need to get to work on making changes so that another Rob Ford never happens again. Ranked ballots, term limits, impeachment and ethical rules/consequences with real teeth. That's a quadruple lock that will definitively slay the monster that has been Rob Ford.
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City council can't do too much of that; most of the big stuff is up to the province. Revising the Municipal Act would certainly help, as would having more of an in-between punishment for violations of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. But as you say ranked ballots would be huge. My understanding is that we're waiting on the province for that (council already asked the province for permission) and it won't happen for 2014 (obviously). I think there is a very very good chance for 2018, but that probably depends a bit on how long Wynne stays in power. There's really no good reason to stand against ranked ballots, even without Ford. (I've seen suggestions Ford might still have won a ranked ballot in 2010 but I think he was likely too polarizing for that....academic at this point anyway.)

Oh, and I forgot to add this rant before:
Columnists are not paid to be objective but Joe Warmington has really crossed some lines in the past while. Clearly he has sold his soul (and his ability to compose paragraphs) to get his little piece of these 15 minutes. As with Ford, I suppose there are some people who still treat his "writing" or "journalism" with some degree of respect but the rest of the world can't help but be disgusted. It tells you a lot that Ford called Warmington (presumably at like 4 a.m., given the time difference) to get the word out on what happened in Vancouver, and Warmington has crossed the line from being the only the guy the pseudo-mayor will talk to, to a full-on communications staffer. I hope the next mayor treats him the way Ford treated The Star, and worse. Put him outside the fence or send off to wherever they've stashed Sue-Ann Levy.

We can all at least enjoy the bit of the reckoning this has been for The Sun who stood by Ford for far, far too long. Credit to Lorrie Goldstein for his about face, and clearly Don Peat gets it, but some of their columnists are clearly too dug in to their insane positions to salvage themselves. Warmington should be dismissed once Ford is gone because that inside track is the only "value" he has left.
 
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TJ O'Pootertoot said:
We can all at least enjoy the bit of the reckoning this has been for The Sun who stood by Ford for far, far too long. Credit to Lorrie Goldstein for his about face, and clearly Don Peat gets it, but some of their columnists are clearly too dug in to their insane positions to salvage themselves. Warmington should be dismissed once Ford is gone because that inside track is the only "value" he has left.
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As you pointed out, SAL was all but fired as a Toronto Sun reporter and Warmington will be useless once Ford is gone too. Post October 27, I wish them excellent new careers as a mental health patient and first grade grammar student respectively.
 
I wonder what led to him leaving his wife and kids in the hotel while he went out and partied. I can't imagine Rob and Renata being cooped up together with two kids in a hotel room, without some fireworks.
 
TJ O'Pootertoot said:
City council can't do too much of that; most of the big stuff is up to the province. Revising the Municipal Act would certainly help, as would having more of an in-between punishment for violations of the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. But as you say ranked ballots would be huge. My understanding is that we're waiting on the province for that (council already asked the province for permission) and it won't happen for 2014 (obviously). I think there is a very very good chance for 2018, but that probably depends a bit on how long Wynne stays in power. There's really no good reason to stand against ranked ballots, even without Ford. (I've seen suggestions Ford might still have won a ranked ballot in 2010 but I think he was likely too polarizing for that....academic at this point anyway.)

Oh, and I forgot to add this rant before:
Columnists are not paid to be objective but Joe Warmington has really crossed some lines in the past while. Clearly he has sold his soul (and his ability to compose paragraphs) to get his little piece of these 15 minutes. As with Ford, I suppose there are some people who still treat his "writing" or "journalism" with some degree of respect but the rest of the world can't help but be disgusted. It tells you a lot that Ford called Warmington (presumably at like 4 a.m., given the time difference) to get the word out on what happened in Vancouver, and Warmington has crossed the line from being the only the guy the pseudo-mayor will talk to, to a full-on communications staffer. I hope the next mayor treats him the way Ford treated The Star, and worse. Put him outside the fence or send off to wherever they've stashed Sue-Ann Levy.

We can all at least enjoy the bit of the reckoning this has been for The Sun who stood by Ford for far, far too long. Credit to Lorrie Goldstein for his about face, and clearly Don Peat gets it, but some of their columnists are clearly too dug in to their insane positions to salvage themselves. Warmington should be dismissed once Ford is gone because that inside track is the only "value" he has left.
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She got 'promoted' to Queens Park. And to Investigative Reporter.... (must be on something big is why we haven't heard from her in a while) Doesn't make her any less a partisan hack, just dials her in one level up. *30ish year old NES level up noise*
 
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