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Rob Ford's Toronto

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mjl08 said:
It could the changing of the seasons, or my own general malaise, but I am genuinely concerned that Rob "Teflon" Ford could end up weathering all this and become a two term mayor. The fact that 44% approve of his performance is downright frightening.

How does he win? He tackles some of his weight at the gym, losing say 20-30 pounds. His enablers sneak him booze and weed which he relegates to his basement in the wee hours of the morning.

The media takes one report too far, say, about his wife or children, and they receive a massive backlash from media observers and the general public.

He campaigns as a "changed man," recommitted to his family and personal health and even more dedicated to stopping the gravy train.

And perhaps most dangerously, he aggressively divides the city in a way we have never seen. A key plank of his campaign is "respect for the suburbs," knowing full well that he does not need south of St. Clair to win the election. He promises a Sheppard subway, Finch subway and Bloor extension to Sherway.

With as little as 35-40% of the vote Ford does the unthinkable. He get's reelected. The left and centre splits the vote and we have an emboldened and more aggressive Ford Nation.
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Chow will win. She will get almost all the Asian vote, she'll easily get the left and downtown vote while Stintz, Ford and possibly Tory will split the right. :

http://www.threehundredeight.com/2013/11/ford-now-that-i-have-your-attention.html?spref=tw
 
I think there does need to be a letter writing campaign to the parade organizers that a family event shouldn't have a crack cocaine using, prone to violent ranting Mayor in its midst
 
soimelk said:
According to Don Peat, the Mayor's Office remains in talks with the Santa Claus parade for his involvement in this year's event. It's obvious Ford plans to continue his staged event media strategy to dodge this scandal, and it bothers me that he'll be given a platform that is so visible to young people. Here is my letter to the organizers of the parade.

Hello,

The Toronto Sun's Don Peat reported today that you are still considering some sort of role for Mayor Ford in this year's parade. I cannot stress how terrible this decision would be for the children of Toronto, and the image of the Santa Claus Parade. Parents and teachers from across the city are already struggling to explain why a man who admitted to breaking the law by smoking crack, and then lying about it shamelessly, would still remain Mayor and avoid any serious punishment. His involvement with the parade would only further reinforce to Toronto's youth that such behaviours are acceptable and will result in no serious consequences.

Knowing that Mr Ford is refusing to seek serious help for his dangerous addictions and the impulses that drive him during his 'stupors', i feel that allowing him in an environment close to so many vulnerable young people would be reckless behaviour on your part as the organizers.

I implore you to decline offering the Mayor any official involvement in this year's parade. He is a terrible role model for children and should not be accorded the privilege of participation in an event that has remained a symbol of Toronto the Good for so many years.


Sincerely,


Edit: Just as I posted this, I read that he's not walking in this year's parade! Some small good news.
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And now it looks like he IS walking. Can you please share who you sent this to? I'm definitely going to add my voice to yours.
 
How is this walking catastrophe STILL acting as our mayor? How can the parade even consider having him? Have they not heard any of the news about him? Are they in denial? Is the parade run by Don Cherry?

I'm growing increasingly furious by how politically invincible Ford is. I didn’t know there was room for me to hate him anymore, but to see how many absurdly incriminating/shameful things he gets away with, and that he never gets punished for ANYthing he does, is unbelievably frustrating. Who else on EARTH could ever politically get away with smoking crack, exchanging suspicious packages more than 100 times with known criminals, and screaming about how he’s going to kill someone?!

I'm also really annoyed by how progressive voices like Councillor Perks are taking such a calm, collected, and civil approach to Ford. This isn’t a time for polite, measured criticism. I find myself yearning for a Bill Maher equivalent. It’s a time for insults and rage.
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It's already begun. He apparently went to a nutritionist and a gym, all in one weekend!
It was either him or Doug who said he feels "reborn".


What a slap in the face to all the people out there who've had to struggle to regain a hold on their lives that a guy as messed up as Ford can magically be 'reborn' by doing this. And his supporters will eat it up.


I'm in agreement with arvelomcquaig that it's getting beyond frustrating that he's getting away with so much with little punishment, and the fact that he's getting all this attention sets a precedent not only for future city leaders, but just about every citizen in Toronto.

"Hey yeah, I buy and smoke crack - but I'm a 'good guy', I made my mistakes and let's move on" -- every criminal from now on.
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I couldn't agree more with both you guys. Every day he's in office, everything he's done, who he's done it with, and the stuff he's used during it becomes less shocking, and more 'normal'. Not that it will ever become normalized, fully, but people are quick to forget in order to make and keep things 'normal'.
There are plenty of people who would be energized to defend Rob Ford and vote for him again if he only saved them twenty-five cents a year. It's the perception that counts, and the emotions that talk of money provokes in people is a quick and powerful changer of perception. I mean - we're seeing people practically defending Ford to the death when he has arguably not saved them any money at all, save for in the fictions of his slogans.

There needs to be a) less politeness around him at city hall. Why is everyone prefacing their camera moments about him with niceties? b)drastic diminishment of his powers via council.
Hopefully he'll step down, or an increase in new evidence will keep cooking his goose until it's ashes. Maybe he'll get led away in handcuffs. Whatever the case, he needs to be diminished and hopefully removed from power as quickly as possible. We do not need a new normal for Toronto of this kind.
 
CanadianNational


"There needs to be a) less politeness around him at city hall. Why is everyone prefacing their camera moments about him with niceties? b)drastic diminishment of his powers via council."

Exactly.
 
Exactly; that’s one of the most disturbing parts of this: the outlandishness of his scandals is growing so much, and the scandals are so frequent, that nothing seems that shocking anymore. It’s infuriating that if Miller had even one of Ford’s hundreds of scandals, he would’ve been shamed out of office. This is creating a horrendous precedent for the standards we have of our mayors.
 
Pretending everything is okay has always worked for Ford. Think about the reporters taking a god damn tour of his haunted office, instead of demanding answers.To use a sports analogy, the gloves need to come off, no more nice taxpayer. We need to keep shaming him until he leaves.
 
pattycakes said:
Pretending everything is okay has always worked for Ford. Think about the reporters taking a god damn tour of his haunted office, instead of demanding answers.To use a sports analogy, the gloves need to come off, no more nice taxpayer. We need to keep shaming him until he leaves.
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But outside of that weird confession, he tends to run away when asked the tough questions.
 
arvelomcquaig said:
How is this walking catastrophe STILL acting as our mayor? How can the parade even consider having him? Have they not heard any of the news about him? Are they in denial? Is the parade run by Don Cherry?

I'm growing increasingly furious by how politically invincible Ford is. I didn’t know there was room for me to hate him anymore, but to see how many absurdly incriminating/shameful things he gets away with, and that he never gets punished for ANYthing he does, is unbelievably frustrating. Who else on EARTH could ever politically get away with smoking crack, exchanging suspicious packages more than 100 times with known criminals, and screaming about how he’s going to kill someone?!

I'm also really annoyed by how progressive voices like Councillor Perks are taking such a calm, collected, and civil approach to Ford. This isn’t a time for polite, measured criticism. I find myself yearning for a Bill Maher equivalent. It’s a time for insults and rage.
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... it gets worse, too. Ford and his crowd are only too pleased to hear reactions like yours (and mine). Some achievement, diving this city into sharp "you're wrong, I'm right" or worse still "win-lose" camps.

What kind of person would want to divide a city rather than strive for "mayor of all the people"? Well, Ford, of course. He's an idiot. People elected an idiot.
 
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