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Rob Ford's Toronto

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Oh dear, one can only guess at what that firing would do to his psyche. That might break him more than losing the job as mayor. This is getting to feel like a bit of a free fall.

AoD
 
Mongo said:
$115,141 exactly three hours after reaching $110,000. The pace of donations is incredible right now.
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The longer the media and public stay interested in this story, the more people are going to donate. Don Bosco dropping him gives this story the credible development it needs at this stage. We may very well hit $125,000 by midnight, especially with the 6pm and 11pm evening news covering last night's talk show stories, Doug's "statement" and this Don Bosco story.
 
I'm a huge Ford critic, but let me play devil's advocate for a minute and try to offer a defense of the mayor - the way I believe he would defend himself if he was willing to speak publicly:

Let's assume Ford does crack. He's probably not the only high ranking official in public or private office who engages in recreational drug use. The only difference is that those people don't have reporters peaking at them from behind bushes or willing to meet drug dealers in dark alleyways on the promise of incriminating evidence. Everyone has their flaws, but as long as they don't have the country's biggest newspaper on an all out campaign to smear them, those flaws usually stay hidden. The fact is, if Ford is doing a good job (which he and his allies believe strongly), then it doesn't really matter what he chooses to do in his private time. In fact, it is because Ford has been so effective in derailing the gravy train and taking power away from the elites in the city, that he has been persecuted so strongly by the left-wing media. They may have finally found some unrelated issue that could be used to drive him out of office and effectively shut down his campaign to reduce government waste and cut taxes.

This is how I think Ford justifies his choice to simply ignore the issue. He knows they've caught him doing something illegal, but he is refusing to let that put an end to his political mission.

Again, let me emphasize that this is my attempt to understand Ford and explain his behavior since this story broke, not an attempt to sympathize with him or excuse him. I think Ford overestimates the extent to which he alone is being targeted by the media (if other public figures are as personally flawed as him, they are much better at hiding it or at least addressing it publicly). He overestimates his personal importance to the conservative movement (he would help the movement if he just resigned and let someone more capable take over). He really mischaracterizes the extent to which all of his political opponents are somehow allied against him, or that in criticizing him and his behavior they are necessarily opposing/supporting any particular political position. And, most importantly, he totally underestimates the seriousness and public importance of his personal flaws - from illegal drugs to marginally corrupt political behavior to his driving habits.
 
Ramako said:
Ouch, I kind of feel bad for him. That team really did mean a lot to him.
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Not me. I would only offer sympathy and support when he does the honorable thing and admits the truth, then takes the time required to get whatever help he needs. Not a minute sooner. Bonus prizes would be his resignation and the unnecessary purchase of a video recording.
 
S&M:

Actually it's not even that complicated - I think to him the simple fact that he was elected meant that no other consideration for criticizing his performance, much less advocate for his removal is valid, regardless of his personal behaviour and activity. You can almost say that it is his "entitlement". You can see traces of that in his behaviour over the whole CoI thing until he had been humbled by the law.

TTM:

I am not, his brand is a liability at this point. For all the denial of the TCDSB about how it is unrelated to his crack issue, the timing in itself is stupendously serendipitous. It's probably the last straw.

AoD
 
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Silence&Motion said:
I'm a huge Ford critic, but let me play devil's advocate for a minute and try to offer a defense of the mayor - the way I believe he would defend himself if he was willing to speak publicly:

Let's assume Ford does crack. He's probably not the only high ranking official in public or private office who engages in recreational drug use. The only difference is that [...]
Click to expand...

There are two differences:

1)This is not just "any" drug use - its crack. Pretty much the lowliest drug out there, and almost as bad as something like being a paint huffer.

2)It's not just that he uses drugs - its that *he uses them while hanging out at his drug dealer's place*
 
Silence&Motion said:
I'm a huge Ford critic, but let me play devil's advocate for a minute and try to offer a defense of the mayor - the way I believe he would defend himself if he was willing to speak publicly:

Let's assume Ford does crack. He's probably not the only high ranking official in public or private office who engages in recreational drug use. The only difference is that those people don't have reporters peaking at them from behind bushes or willing to meet drug dealers in dark alleyways on the promise of incriminating evidence. Everyone has their flaws, but as long as they don't have the country's biggest newspaper on an all out campaign to smear them, those flaws usually stay hidden. The fact is, if Ford is doing a good job (which he and his allies believe strongly), then it doesn't really matter what he chooses to do in his private time. In fact, it is because Ford has been so effective in derailing the gravy train and taking power away from the elites in the city, that he has been persecuted so strongly by the left-wing media. They may have finally found some unrelated issue that could be used to drive him out of office and effectively shut down his campaign to reduce government waste and cut taxes.

This is how I think Ford justifies his choice to simply ignore the issue. He knows they've caught him doing something illegal, but he is refusing to let that put an end to his political mission.

Again, let me emphasize that this is my attempt to understand Ford and explain his behavior since this story broke, not an attempt to sympathize with him or excuse him. I think Ford overestimates the extent to which he alone is being targeted by the media (if other public figures are as personally flawed as him, they are much better at hiding it or at least addressing it publicly). He overestimates his personal importance to the conservative movement (he would help the movement if he just resigned and let someone more capable take over). He really mischaracterizes the extent to which all of his political opponents are somehow allied against him, or that in criticizing him and his behavior they are necessarily opposing/supporting any particular political position. And, most importantly, he totally underestimates the seriousness and public importance of his personal flaws - from illegal drugs to marginally corrupt political behavior to his driving habits.
Click to expand...


I disagree, in that I don't care if he uses drugs recreationally, but I do care that he is reckless and stupid enough to get caught. You are the mayor of a city and you think you're being discrete smoking crack with a bunch of dealers? He should have several degrees of separation between him and his dealers, and would be better off smoking alone in his basement. I am sure prominent drug users are shaking their heads at his incompetence.
 
There is also the issue of impact - an average joe working a job with an average level of responsibility smoking crack and acting under the influence of is very different from an individual tasked with providing leadership to a city of 2.6 million citizens. It's a job that demands more than "poor judgement".

AoD
 
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