Rob Ford's Toronto

[Jado]

The Halloween display would probably be endearing if robbie and douggie weren't actually sinister, violent psychopathic maniacs.

Right. And the thing about "jokes" is that they are not independent of the person telling them. Just as pranks are made either funny or mean by the person playing them and the context in which they are played.

In this case it fell flat. Coulda worked without the sinister undertones and the weirdness and the history but...nope.

 

[blearghhh]

According to something a reporter said on twitter at one point, way back at the start of the mayoralty, media learned that if you challenge them like that, they just end the media availability and go home. For better or for worse, the media ended up deciding that answers to some questions were better than to none, so they stopped doing it. The 'anything else' tactic didn't start with the crack affair.

Couldn't the media and other councillors just counter with the stuff the Fords say on the radio show? It's equally libel and many cases outright fabrications.

 

[OSS 117]

Gee, I guess I'm the only one here that found humour in the Ford's haunted house tour. Yes, Rob and Doug suck, but can't we look past that for one second and have a little fun? It's halloween! Loosen up! Ford's laugh was hilarious. The snake remark was funny. Even the media was laughing. Cyanide, the dead councillor's bones, who cares. They're showing that they have a lighter side. I thought it was fun. Did David Miller ever get in the spirit and decorate his office and get into character for the occasion?

If Rob and Doug were normal people it would all be funny. They're scary weirdos, so it isn't.

 

[jje1000]

According to something a reporter said on twitter at one point, way back at the start of the mayoralty, media learned that if you challenge them like that, they just end the media availability and go home. For better or for worse, the media ended up deciding that answers to some questions were better than to none, so they stopped doing it. The 'anything else' tactic didn't start with the crack affair.

Interestingly enough though, this method has allowed the Fords to both increase their media visibility and spread their mistruths at the same time. If he had isolated himself from media earlier on, things could have been better.

 

[ChesterCopperpot]

Tim Leiweke CEO just referred to Ford as the Chris Farley character from Tommy Boy

 

[Silence&Motion]

Gee, I guess I'm the only one here that found humour in the Ford's haunted house tour. Yes, Rob and Doug suck, but can't we look past that for one second and have a little fun? It's halloween! Loosen up! Ford's laugh was hilarious. The snake remark was funny. Even the media was laughing. Cyanide, the dead councillor's bones, who cares. They're showing that they have a lighter side. I thought it was fun. Did David Miller ever get in the spirit and decorate his office and get into character for the occasion?

It would be funnier if I didn't suspect that the Fords put more thought into this haunted house than they do into municipal policies and governance. It's true what Paul Ainslie said: Ford ran out of ideas a long time ago. These days it seems like all his time is spent planning photo ops like this.

 

[tiffer24]

Any new ideas, efficiencies, policies brought forward by Rob in the last six months? Nope, not really, but we got one heck of haunted office. You have to give him credit for the creativity--he really does earn that $167,000 a year salary...

 

[Peepers]

Mayor Ford caught in a web!

NOW Magazine @BenSpurr

 

[Dubster]

Any new ideas, efficiencies, policies brought forward by Rob in the last six months? Nope, not really, but we got one heck of haunted office. You have to give him credit for the creativity--he really does earn that $167,000 a year salary...

The one he gives to "charity."

 

[James_D]

The one he gives to "charity."

Doug donated his salary. Not rob as far as I know.

 

[Silence&Motion]

Any new ideas, efficiencies, policies brought forward by Rob in the last six months? Nope, not really, but we got one heck of haunted office. You have to give him credit for the creativity--he really does earn that $167,000 a year salary...

He keeps talking about the things he still needs to accomplish in his next term (eliminating the LTT, building the Sheppard subway). But they're really just a list of things he can't accomplish. Not now, and not after 2014. Actually, in hindsight, almost all of his successful policy goals were achieved by other councilors. Mike Del Grande eliminated the VRT as budget chief, Doug Holiday took lead in negotiating the union contracts, and Karen Stintz is really the one responsible for the Scarborough Subway. The only things that the Fords took a lead on blew up in their faces (Casino, waterfront redevelopment, privately funded Sheppard subway, etc).

 

[JWBF]

Doug donated his salary. Not rob as far as I know.

Robbie doesn't donate his salary, and he likes to turn down any pay raise.

 

[jusbokeh]

Here is an example of why the suburbs/hard working taxpayers elect Rob Ford.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...ental_units_purchased_by_city_of_toronto.html

Good work rabble.ca/ocap crowd

rob ford just added another talking point to his re-election campaign.

 

[Parker]

Unfortunately our system is designed assuming that everyone has some basic level of decency, and the system sort of breaks down when someone doesn't have the requisite capacity for shame.

This. Absent a recall mechanism (or, in the most serious cases, an impeachment process), one of the few checks and balances on elected officials between elections is shame. I'm not a big supporter of shaming, but used judiciously, it can encourage a politician back on track when they've become ineffective and a political joke. Either that or encourage them to take responsibility for their failings and resign.

Politicians who feel no shame can sink so low and still keep digging. Kind of explains why the term "shameless" is rarely used complementarily.

The great thing about a libel suit is that Rob would have to testify under oath to the contrary of the libelous claim.

Maybe. If I'm not mistaken, the plaintiff in a libel suit has no obligation to testify. The onus is on the defendant to prove the libel is true.

He keeps talking about the things he still needs to accomplish in his next term (eliminating the LTT, building the Sheppard subway). But they're really just a list of things he can't accomplish. Not now, and not after 2014. Actually, in hindsight, almost all of his successful policy goals were achieved by other councilors. Mike Del Grande eliminated the VRT as budget chief, Doug Holiday took lead in negotiating the union contracts, and Karen Stintz is really the one responsible for the Scarborough Subway. The only things that the Fords took a lead on blew up in their faces (Casino, waterfront redevelopment, privately funded Sheppard subway, etc).

Given what little his honour has done, it begs the question "how necessary is the mayor's office." It's obviously unneeded in the role of political stewardship. Under RoFo it's almost become a ceremonial role, like the Governor General. Goodwill tours, ribbon cutting, and attending proclamations. It even has it's own summer "Garden Party," though Ford Fest seems more geared towards tank tops and baseball caps than tea dresses and pouffy hats.

 

[Dubster]

Here is an example of why the suburbs/hard working taxpayers elect Rob Ford.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...ental_units_purchased_by_city_of_toronto.html

Good work rabble.ca/ocap crowd

rob ford just added another talking point to his re-election campaign.

They elect Rob Ford so that he'll do nothing to stop the City from doing what he doesn't want? That makes a whole heap of sense!