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Rob Ford's Toronto

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zang said:
If you'd told Ford Nation in 2010 that the guy they were about to vote in consorted with criminals, supported gun running gangs, spent less than 20 hours at work per week, abused his powers of office, use his city-paid staff for numerous personal reasons, would give his brother's drug dealer partner a 130k/year job, pissed away nearly $100m in cancelled contracts and smoked crack cocaine, they'd never have voted for him.
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No one now in 2014 is really telling voters about these failings. Not the media, not other candidates. We can tick off the whole list, but then people here analyse one photo to the next to judge how pink his face is and what that must mean for his health. These details have probably been lost in the noise and the comedy for less attentive voters.
 
kaboi said:
Crowd laughed when he promised he'd be able to work with council by pointing to his record. And they laughed at at least one Tory zinger at Ford's expense, though I don't recall the joke.

They also gasped when Ford said to Tory "I wont' call you what I want to call you" and were dead silent after most of his answers. This was not a Ford-friendly crowd, which surprised me - IIRC Forum polls usually show high support for Ford in the 55+ demo.
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"There's no fool like an old fool."
 
pud99 said:
There is a lot of misinformation and/or urban myth on this thread about Ford's ability to enter the US.

For amusement, I have looked into the US law on this subject in some depth.

His options are:

1. Try to enter and be admitted. This would require that he luck onto a border agent who knows nothing about his admission of cocaine use and misses the record of his voluntary withdrawal at Chicago. This scenario is very unlikely.

2. Try to enter, run into a border agent who sees the record of his voluntary withdrawal, and once again be offered the option of voluntary withdrawal. This scenario is very unlikely.

3. Try to enter, run into a border agent who sees the record of his voluntary withdrawal and be subjected to a hearing on his ability to enter. This scenario is very likely if he does not have a waiver, and it is very likely that he would lose at such a hearing, with the result that he would be deported.

4. Apply for a waiver. It is very likely that he would get one if he was still a public official when he applied, because he did not admit to repeated, continuing use of cocaine and his criminal record is limited to the DUI in Floriida that caused no injury to 3rd parries.
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I think it says something that he hasn't gone to Florida since returning from spa-hab.
 
Videodrome said:
I think it can get a lot worse for him in the next several weeks. Well, at least I hope it does and he gets demolished on October 27.
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I imagine that anyone with dirt on Ford has been saving the worst of it for the next two months. Let it out just before the election and completely destroy his chances of being mayor. One can hope anyway.
 
typezed said:
No one now in 2014 is really telling voters about these failings. Not the media, not other candidates. We can tick off the whole list, but then people here analyse one photo to the next to judge how pink his face is and what that must mean for his health. These details have probably been lost in the noise and the comedy for less attentive voters.
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All the things I listed were covered in the newspapers, it's more a matter that no one is listening, and those Ford Nation who are, call it a conspiracy and brush it off and scream "but David Miller! Tax and Spend! LRTs are the reason for traffic!"

With the election closing in, more are starting to pay attention, and those who we thought might not be paying attention have caught just enough to deny Ford a victory. There will always be the zealots, but as long as they stay in the minority, I'm just fine with that.
 
Cognitive Dissonance

zang said:
If you'd told Ford Nation in 2010 that the guy they were about to vote in consorted with criminals, supported gun running gangs, spent less than 20 hours at work per week, abused his powers of office, use his city-paid staff for numerous personal reasons, would give his brother's drug dealer partner a 130k/year job, pissed away nearly $100m in cancelled contracts and smoked crack cocaine, they'd never have voted for him (even if as I believe, many voted because he justified their ignorant values).

We're where we are because with every new scandal, it's only slightly worse than the previous one. If cognitive dissonance grows gradually enough and with enough personal investment, you can get people to support the most outrageous things, and at each step they become more and more a believer.

The socio-psychological aspect of cognitive dissonance (and it's reduction) is incredibly fascinating, and incredibly disheartening.
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This is the sort of intelligent and insightful analysis that first inspired me to join this forum. Thank you, Zang.

(Although I do get a kick out of the goofy stuff too.)
 
YPQ said:
Had an overdue visit with my Mom today. She is 69, very liberal and a pretty good judge of character IMO. Now, neither of us live in Toronto, are eligible to vote there or have any tangible investment in the upcoming election. As we're talking, RoFo's mumbling face appears on the TV and she comes out with "poor old Rob. Ya know he's a good mayor and a good guy who's had a rough ride."

I calmly explained that no, he has been an incredibly bad mayor and is an offensive, terrible human being. We decided to leave it like that and not get into it but wow. It served as kind of a reminder of this guy's weird, inexplicible power of persuasion over otherwise reasonable people.

I just don't know sometimes.
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I had lunch with my Investment Adviser on Friday. She's from the GTA and informed me that the press and everyone else should just leave Ford alone. "He's done such a great job getting the city off the fiscal cliff". I was dumbfounded. After a deep breath I explained that the city was NEVER in dire straits and that Ford merely created the crisis and campaigned as the only one to fix it. He invented a problem and fixed it by moving spare change from his left pocket to his right pocket.

I'm now reconsidering my continued relationship with said Adviser.
 
OSS 117 said:
I think it says something that he hasn't gone to Florida since returning from spa-hab.
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It takes on average about a year to obtain a waiver.

That said, it does not appear that he has ever been more than an occasional winter escape visitor to his mother's condo.
 
wheeler98 said:
I had lunch with my Investment Adviser on Friday. She's from the GTA and informed me that the press and everyone else should just leave Ford alone. "He's done such a great job getting the city off the fiscal cliff". I was dumbfounded. After a deep breath I explained that the city was NEVER in dire straits and that Ford merely created the crisis and campaigned as the only one to fix it. He invented a problem and fixed it by moving spare change from his left pocket to his right pocket.

I'm now reconsidering my continued relationship with said Adviser.
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A financial advisor thinks Robbo is good with city financials? Yikes.
 
zang said:
The election will be stolen in their eyes.
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"Stabbed in the back by the Red Star."

Rob was their voice.

zang said:
Hope however, is a waking dream.
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Hope is always last to die.

Videodrome said:
One post I found amusing on IHTWOMRF is that when Bill Murray commented on Ford, he was clearly being sarcastic, but Neil saw it as support for his re-election. None of these celebs who might comment on him actually back him for mayor. Saying "I wish him the best" doesn't mean that they love him...
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Like when they sign autographs to fans, "All the best" or "Best wishes for the Holiday Season" to people they don't know.

JWBF said:
I'll raise you with, "Who's more foolish, the fool, or the fool that follows him?"
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I'll raise with, "Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us."
 
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