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Rob Ford's Toronto

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Here's the original text to Warmington's time travel article - posting for posterity:

Rob Ford critics drunk with envy
By Joe Warmington,Toronto Sun

First posted: Monday, March 03, 2014 09:13 PM EST | Updated: Monday, March 03, 2014 10:17 PM EST

TORONTO - Members of the self-appointed establishment which continues to scrutinize Mayor Rob Ford seem drunk with envy.

They also seem unanimous in their collective disapproval.

In the meantime, Ford may be laughing his way to a legendary status that he is certain to attain if the civic leader can win this fall’s election.

With that a possibility, he must be stopped is the decree of many.

Oh man are they trying.

He’s become the media’s punching bag.

But the mayor has a few moves of his own.

Quite a few.

From the push back and social media indignation, you’d think Ford’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday was an apocalyptic moment in Toronto’s history.

For some mayoral candidates it could be.

Do you know what was going on Monday with any of the others who are putting their names on the ballot?

No matter how you cut it, a major late-night comedy show appearance before millions of viewers is just that.

Huge.

This is why Hollywood movie moguls trot out their stars nightly.

Not on this night.

Just 24 hours after the Oscars, Kimmel did not bring out a movie star but a new kind of sensation.

And it doesn’t matter that the skilled comic relentlessly poked fun at Ford and his Chris Farley, Tommy Boy-like journey and skillfully lampooned him.

It doesn’t matter if people were laughing with him or at him. He has proven himself to be a good sport with a sense of humour.

Others should give it a try. Some of the haters could try to lighten up some. The election is Oct. 27 and they have plenty of time to get their revenge.

Meanwhile, this appearance is a victory for Ford and Toronto — much to the chagrin of those who loath to acknowledge his mayoralty let alone offer some deserved credit for pushing Toronto’s strong points in a nontraditional way to an audience much larger than any conventional platform could provide.

This was vintage Rob Ford.

“It sheds a bit of a negative light on the city,” says Councillor Jaye Robinson.

Says who?

Worse than O.J. Simpson’s impact on Los Angeles?

Or Rodney King?

The truth is Ford’s foes just don’t know what to do. Normally, a mayor’s admission about crack smoking would lead to a resignation, but instead it has made Ford world famous.

Meanwhile, the City of Toronto is not burning to the ground. In fact, the city may have never had as much exposure or as wide a platform.

Ford will not get any credit either way. It seems there’s a like-minded mob trying to cherry pick and spin his every move as negative.

If Ford mentions Toronto’s film industry or the success of the Toronto International Film Festival premiering such Oscar-winning movies as Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity or 12 Years a Slave, you’ll find people in the movie office, or on the board, with their nose out of joint.

If he gets taken out to dinner or shows up at a Hollywood party, there’s talk about him breaching the city’s gift giving protocol. If he goes to the bathroom, there are media types prepared to follow him there.

It’s an approach that does not seem to be moving the needle. It’s not stopping people wanting to be in pictures with him — in Toronto or Hollywood.

The truth is they just don’t know what to do with this guy. They have no answer.

And some of their jealousy is more grotesque than anything Ford has done.

If they heap on the ridicule, it seems to come across as piling on. If they ignore him, the mayor finds media who did not get the memo.

The organized shaming and shunning of Ford — also directed at anyone who dares to point out it’s up to voters to pick the next mayor — is unprecedented in my time in Toronto media. In some ways, it’s backfiring because his foes are making him a victim — one people are starting to feel sorry for.

There’s no question he’s made some mistakes, but as of today there have been no criminal charges and he still is sharing the lead with the other top candidates in the race for mayor.

Like his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel, that’s a reality difficult to ignore
Click to expand...
 
TJ O'Pootertoot said:
He walked into an AMBUSH? Does he even know what that word means? Because agreeing to an interview with a comedian who has mocked you for months is not an AMBUSH. I mean, if he loses the election on Oct. 27, will Warmington call that a "sneak attack" by John Tory?
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No. He'll call it a sneak attack by Soknacki or Chow.

(I'm calling it now: Tory doesn't win Oct 27th)
 
Pblo said:
After his interview the poster detected a tear in his eye as he left. To add insult to injury, Doug (worst. brother. ever) at the end of the show walked out and threw more Ford Nation T-shirts to the audience. Apparently people just looked at them and left them there.
Click to expand...

When I saw this picture (from after the show) my first thought was that Rob was on the verge of tears or at the very least coming apart.

https://twitter.com/TOMayorFrod/status/440683516934639616/photo/1/large
 
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mrtinfoilsocket said:
When I saw this picture (from after the show) my first thought was that Rob was on the verge of tears or at the very least coming apart.

https://twitter.com/TOMayorFrod/status/440683516934639616/photo/1/large
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He ditched the red tie.

I feel no pity. If he couldn't see where this is going, and no one with him could see it, or if they somehow believed their own delusions that he is a superstar and Kimmel was going to create a love-in, then they deserve to feel however badly they feel. Sadly, even the Kardashians are smarter than this bunch.

It is extremely embarrassing that these buffoons are even associated with, never mind representing, the fourth largest city in North America. It boggles the mind how that could happen.
 
It doesn't really matter if it was scripted or not. Rob got played. Or rather he played himself. And Doug failed to manage the whole thing too. Even Warmington's pathetic after-the-fact revisionist cheerleading doesn't change that.
 
Just saw Ford arrive at City Hall on CP24. Usual routine---head down, no eye contact, stammering, sweating, hitting shuffle on the talking points. Somebody needs to put him out of his misery somehow. It's like watching a wounded elephant trying to struggle to it's feet. Come on Giroux, you need to end this.
 
OSS 117 said:
Just saw Ford arrive at City Hall on CP24. Usual routine---head down, no eye contact, stammering, sweating, hitting shuffle on the talking points. Somebody needs to put him out of his misery somehow. It's like watching a wounded elephant trying to struggle to it's feet. Come on Giroux, you need to end this.
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No questions/answers on where he has been today? Do we just accept that he doesn't work full hours?
 
Doug just can't ever seem to get his stories straight: Ford's appearance on Kimmel a 'church picnic', brother says.

I can't decide which line is more hilarious.

His brother Doug said on Tuesday morning: “That was Jimmy’s opinion, and we can respect that. I think everyone has seen in the city Rob’s looking very healthy.”
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*snort*

Councillor Ford maintained, as he has over the past few days, that the trip was intended to promote Toronto’s tourism and film industries. “He went to an event [a post-Oscars party] that had over 1,000 people. We were working the room like no one’s ever worked a room. We brought hundreds of business cards. I have none left,” he said.
Click to expand...

Because giving away the mayor's business cards to a room full of a thousand people who may or may not have anything to do with making decisions about filming in Toronto or other cities is totally an effective use of time.

I also never want to hear Doug say any variant of "we x-ed the y like no one's ever x-ed the y" again. It sounds like a creepy double-entendre every single time.
 
Thing I thought of this morning was that until Rob ran for Mayor he was an "alright" Councillor and aside from his public drunken disorder-lies he was pretty much a non impact in the media.

When Doug showed up that is when ALL THE REAL TROUBLE started....

I wonder if Doug hadn't ran/joined council if Rob would have settled in to be a somewhat effective Mayor - with his brother not around pushing the envelope is it possible he could have tempered into a more malleable, consensus building version of himself?
 
tariqata said:
Councillor Ford maintained, as he has over the past few days, that the trip was intended to promote Toronto’s tourism and film industries. “He went to an event [a post-Oscars party] that had over 1,000 people. We were working the room like no one’s ever worked a room. We brought hundreds of business cards. I have none left,” he said.
Click to expand...

Because giving away the mayor's business cards to a room full of a thousand people who may or may not have anything to do with making decisions about filming in Toronto or other cities is totally an effective use of time.
Click to expand...

Rob believes in service to ALL taxpayers, even those his government doesn't tax or serve! Someone should start a campaign to have thousands of Americans call Rob and ask for pot holes to be fixed in their American cities.
 
Bob But Not Doug said:
To be fair to Doug, can you imagine trying to coach Rob through anything more complicated than a drive-through order?
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Except coaching Rob through to speak decently is exactly how Ford won the election in 2010.

The difference? In 2010 Ford had Batra, Towhey, Kouvalis, etc. to tell him what to think, what to say, and how to say it. And you better believe they rehearsed him over and over and over again, like drill sargeants, until he got it right. He was just a puppet and they were his puppet masters.

Ford actually shows a remarkable ability to remember his talking points - in fact, his talking point autopilot is as unerring as his ability to home drunk from Steak Queen. The problem is that they are terrible talking points, and that's because Doug is more familiar with drive-through ordering than political campaigning. What we're really seeing is how weak his campaign is.
 
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