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Rob Ford's Toronto

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Peepers said:
Putting aside the possibility that Ford might have been drinking and driving last night one cannot deny the incredible star power that he has. I cannot think of any politician at any level of government in Canada who would get swarmed like a rock star in the way Ford does every time he appears in public. Not even pretty-boy Justin Trudeau can attract a mob of fans like this!

When Miller was Mayor I saw him in public a few times and never did you see members of the public trying to get pictures with him - of course with his arrogant and snobbish demeanor Miller was not someone who seemed approachable. Ford on the other hand loves nothing better than to be immersed in a crowd.
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I wouldn't call it an arrogant and snobbish demeanor. To approach Miller or most other adults someone would need to say, "Excuse me, sir. Would you mind if we take a picture?" They might even feel the need to exchange a few words of conversation. With Ford someone can just shout "Whoo. Rob Ford, dude," and shove up beside him and start taking pictures like he's someone in a Mickey Mouse costume at Disneyland. Is that more approachable or a sign that no one anywhere really takes him seriously, even the people who support him and vote for him?
 
TheTigerMaster said:
Well if they didn't give a rats ass, I'd certainly love for TPS to explain why they needed 12 cops to surround the mayor when there was likely other more important business in the city. Just throw him in the back of the cop car and get to patrolling the streets.
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My guess is a cop saw the growing crowd around the mayor and called in back up to protect him? Or maybe his staff called it in. I wasn't there but it seems to me the cops were there to protect the mayor from the crowd. Someone on twitter was saying they were preventing people from taking his photo.
 
I'm certain someone would have drove him home. One of the papers report a staffer came with his Escalade while Ford was surrounded by the cops. It's how he got there that needs to be investigated. He didn't become intoxicated on the Danforth - he arrived that way.
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
Umm... Peepers, have you thought about the possibility that it's not 'a picture with Ford' but 'a picture with the Mayor hammered out of his mind' that people want? It's not star power, man. It's the ROTFLMAO potential. These folks aren't taking a picture of Rob because he's Mayor. They're taking a picture of Rob because he's Mayor and a complete idiot.

Folks talked to Miller on the street all the time. Mayor Hall as well. But in neither case was it a media circus because they're serious people, not clowns.
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It probably did not occur to most of them that Ford was under the influence of something when they ran up to get their pictures taken. Of course once they realized what condition he was in you can hear in the videos the inevitable giggling. Sober or drunk Ford seems to draw a crowd. Perhaps it is because of the circus atmosphere that surrounds Ford. At the end of the day I believe this incredible attention he gets does more to help Ford at the ballot box than hurt him.
 
Peepers said:
From the Globe story:

Putting aside the possibility that Ford might have been drinking and driving last night one cannot deny the incredible star power that he has. I cannot think of any politician at any level of government in Canada who would get swarmed like a rock star in the way Ford does every time he appears in public. Not even pretty-boy Justin Trudeau can attract a mob of fans like this!
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"Pretty boy" (yes, he's good looking but also extremely charismatic) Justin Trudeau does indeed attract mobs for photographs, where have you been?

When Miller was Mayor I saw him in public a few times and never did you see members of the public trying to get pictures with him - of course with his arrogant and snobbish demeanor Miller was not someone who seemed approachable. Ford on the other hand loves nothing better than to be immersed in a crowd.
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I met all three of our previous Mayors more than once, they were all friendly and took time to talk to me. Barbara Hall engaged me once for about 15 or 20 minutes, she was crazy friendly. I never asked for photos, that's not my thing plus there were no cell phone cameras back then. Never met Ford. No interest.
 
thedeepend said:
now he's out on the street again, trying to stay clean. he's broke, bitter, unemployable, and extremely willing to talk about what he knows, for a price.
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Don't like his chances if he asks for $200,000.

dforthandbview said:
If I saw Charles Manson on the street I'd want to have a photo taken with him.
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Who wouldn't want to pose with an unstable homicidal maniacal neo-Nazi?
 
Maybe the "right" and "left" in Toronto should make a deal to get rid of embarrassing, incompetent and corrupt leaders and regimes.

The "Left" needs to agree to no longer vote for the Liberals and then the "Right" would agree to stop voting for Ford - after he serves his third term. :D
 
BurlOak said:
Maybe the "right" and "left" in Toronto should make a deal to get rid of embarrassing, incompetent and corrupt leaders and regimes.

The "Left" needs to agree to no longer vote for the Liberals and then the "Right" would agree to stop voting for Ford - after he serves his third term. :D
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Third term in prison?
 
From the Sun:

Former deputy mayor and newly-elected Progressive Conservative MPP Doug Holyday — long a staunch Ford supporter — maintained Saturday he has yet to see evidence Ford is an addict, insisting some councillors are out to simply “embarrass” Toronto’s mayor.

“No councillor who said (Ford) has a problem has produced any evidence of that ... I don’t know what’s going on here or anything about it,” said Holyday, who said he had not seen any of the videos from the Danforth, and didn’t plan to view them any time soon.

My apologies if it was actually Mike del Grande who said this, because they both like to play the tough-talking realist, but I believe I once read an article where Holyday, when talking about the union menace down at the City, said something like, "Fire a couple of them and the rest will fall in line."

So when Mr. Holyday is working in the next office to someone who appears to have a substance abuse problem, has difficulties focusing on his job, hires old friends with no job description and apparently works 10am - 2pm days, is Mr. Holyday vigilant in finding the source of the problem, in still wanting to be the Dad who declares it's time to "shape up or ship out"? No, he's chief apologist, looking to blame it all on someone else, insisting on evidence while refusing to look at the evidence. Now there's leadership.
 
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If a lot of these Ford-supporting "average folk" have no clue as to what it takes to comport oneself properly as an elected official, it may be in the same way that a lot of people don't have a clue about "formal attire" anymore, in these days of 24/7 casual--or to them, "formal" might mean Gap khakis, or something...
 
typezed said:
I'm certain someone would have drove him home. One of the papers report a staffer came with his Escalade while Ford was surrounded by the cops. It's how he got there that needs to be investigated. He didn't become intoxicated on the Danforth - he arrived that way.
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if he was too fucked to drive home, then he was definitely too fucked to drive there. i.e. if someone else got him home, then the case for him not driving there is stronger / harder to ignore.
 
TheTigerMaster said:
According to Wiki:



So why was Rob Ford let off free? He's not above the law.
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Why isn't half of downtown on Friday and Saturday nights fined $65 for being drunk?

Ditto for the Rogers Centre/ACC/BMO Field?
 
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