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Rob Ford's Toronto

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Another thing to keep in mind about the Tea "Party" is that it's a perfect example of the Frankenstien myth come to life. It's been the case for years now that the Big Money Boyz who run the GOP had been happy to take votes from the rubes and not give them anything substantial in return, just red meat rhetoric...and the rubes have finally gotten wise to that litle sleight of hand. That explains why they've been so much more animated in recent years. That's to say nothing of the fact that Republican candidates themselves have gradually become more and more extreme and genuinely believe blatant hogwash that their predecessors knew was nothing more than propaganda. How this relates to our own situation, I'm sure I couldn't say; Canada and the US aren't quite the same, despite our similarities. Mind you, though I haven't actually picked up a copy in years, I read the Toronto Sun back when I was a kid in the 80's and lies, hate and violations of common human decency were the norm back then. It was Tea Party politics decades before that term existed, and its readers are the sort of people who voted for Ford...and likely will again.

Speaking of His Oafship, I can't believe Ford had the sheer gall to cavalierly saunter into Harper's event last night as if nothing had happened that might suggest doing so was a bad idea. Not a hint of shame or self-awareness to be found on him. A pity he didn't get into a drunken fist fight with bouncers.
 
heywriterboy said:
Zang, enjoyed your take. But one thing -- I believe that even post-Garbage strike, polls showed that Miller was very popular and would have won again had he run. I know a few close to him and he really did retire for the reasons he said -- he wanted to be with his kids before they grew up. He was hardly "forced" to not run.

Him dropping out changed the dynamic of the race utterly. And Smitherman & Pantalone were terrible candidates. And the pros who backed Rob Ford genuinely whipped up lightning in a bottle.
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We could probably blame the whole thing on Adam Giambrone if we wanted to. If he hadn't had his (trivial seeming, now) scandal, the left wouldn't have had to parachute an unready candidate into his spot, and Ford probably would have lost. I can definitely see Giambrone holding his own in debates better than Pantalone, who, while he usually said the right things, just seemed to fade into the background.
 
OSS 117 said:
We could probably blame the whole thing on Adam Giambrone if we wanted to. If he hadn't had his (trivial seeming, now) scandal, the left wouldn't have had to parachute an unready candidate into his spot, and Ford probably would have lost. I can definitely see Giambrone holding his own in debates better than Pantalone, who, while he usually said the right things, just seemed to fade into the background.
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And coincidentally it was The Toronto Star that broke the Giambrone scandal! So much for TorStar having a "left-wing" bias, eh?
 
Article written across the pond, this is what Ford Nation doesn't seem to understand:

"This is a man whose commitment to hard-living far exceeded his sense of civic responsibility and the consequent shame-spiral has implications beyond his bloated bad health.
But as more evidence piles up, as it inevitably will, we might see something sinister beneath the hard partying in Toronto’s City Hall.
After all, incompetence in an executive is usually exploited to mask more serious corruption."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-a-problem-and-so-does-the-city-he-leads.html
 
Right now I wish I lived in Toronto. I am steaming mad if Rob Ford thinks he can represent us at Remembrance Day Services. Our vets deserve better. They fought for this country. They did not die, get maimed and injured so Toronto could be taken over by crack heads and criminals. He is not fit to stand within a mile of any cenotaph in this country. He has disgraced all that our vets fought for. Torontonians should make a blockade to keep him out. He does not have enough sense to even realize the insult that he brings to such a service.
 
MTown said:
He can't show up there....he's a bloody disgrace. Maybe a grizzly vet will shoot him.
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If Ford indeed comes out for the Rememberance Day ceremony, the police presence will be heavy. We easily forget that there are crazy people on both sides of the spectrum. @therealdamany and unfuckwithable are good examples of mentally unstable nutcases on the left wing. This situation is starting to reach a fever pitch. I just hope Toronto doesn't end up in the news because Ford's foibles pushes somebody too far.
 
pattycakes said:
Can't remember if this has been posted already (no dig at MTown intended), just seemed timely:

Rob Ford and Toxic Masculinity

"Violent temper. Refusal to admit wrongdoing. Penchant for expressing every feeling as anger. Penchant for expressing anger through physical intimidation. Homophobia and transphobia. Impulsive, risky behaviour with no consideration of potential consequences. Obsession with the competitive parts of politics (campaigning) and disdain for the collaborative parts. â€Boys will be boys†brand excuses for egregious behaviour. Yup. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford sure is winning at Toxic Masculinity Bingo."

"Articles imploring Rob Ford to step up to some ill-defined code of manhood do not help matters. It is not useful or accurate to frame honesty, accountability and “honour†as masculine traits, nor is it ever helpful to implore someone to “be a man.†Why not just “be a decent, trustworthy human being� Why gender that? This kind of macho posturing only serves to validate idealized masculinity and reductive, binary understandings of how gender can and should influence identity."

http://witopoli.com/2013/11/08/rob-ford-and-toxic-masculinity/
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Great post. I have long felt grimly amused by the impossibility of imagining the story of Rob Ford rewritten as the story of Roberta Ford. He owes his entire continued existence as a politician to our tolerance of levels of idiocy in a man that we would never tolerate in a woman. The double standards are always ever present, but in his case they are astonishing.

In April 2006, security guards remove a drunken and belligerent Ms. Ford from a Maple Leafs game after she shouts insults at an out-of-town couple. The attacks began after the man asks Ms. Ford to be quiet. Ms. Ford responds: "Who the fuck do you think you are? Are you a fucking teacher?" Failing to get a response, she turns his attention to the man's wife: "Do you want your little wife to go over to Iran and get raped and shot?"

In February of this year, Ms. Ford was asked to leave a gala for members of the military after she was witnessed "speaking in a rambling, incoherent manner that alarmed some of the guests." The Toronto Star reported that it's "an open secret at city hall that she has battled alcohol abuse."

This March, Ms. Ford was accused by political rival Samuel Thomson of grabbing his ass during a photo and telling him that he "should have been in Florida with her last week because her husband wasn’t there."

A “very intoxicated†Ms. Ford had a wild St. Patrick’s Day night in 2012 that included the mayor knocking a junior staffer off his feet, jumping on her giant “Cut the Waist†challenge scale, attempting to undress in front of her staff, smashing her cellphone on the wall, crying and even throwing racial slurs and her business cards at a cab driver.

Her night ended with Ms. Ford wandering alone around the main floor of City Hall “with a half-empty bottle of St.-Remy French Brandy.â€

Etc. Ad Nauseum
 
Its Rob AND Doug Ford's stubbornness that seems to drive them. It MUST be their way, and ONLY their way. We saw that in his selection for the city hall executive.

Nathan Phillips was dubbed "mayor of all the people". Rob Ford should be dubbed "mayor of his clique".
 
Coltaine79 said:
And coincidentally it was The Toronto Star that broke the Giambrone scandal! So much for TorStar having a "left-wing" bias, eh?
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Given how anti-Miller The Toronto Star was, and their anti-Giambrone spin, I'm not sure why anyone falls for the extreme-right's claim that the Toronto Star is left-wing. Centrist perhaps, but they don't spare the left-wing.

Now they might attack the right-wing more frequently, as what we've seen of late, is that when someone on the left-wing does something wrong, they quickly apologize and resign ... and when someone on the right-wing does something wrong, their sense of entitlement seems to stop them doing the right thing.

I'm still shocked that neither Hudak and Harper have competely disowned Ford yet.
 
nfitz said:
Given how anti-Miller The Toronto Star was, and their anti-Giambrone spin, I'm not sure why anyone falls for the extreme-right's claim that the Toronto Star is left-wing. Centrist perhaps, but they don't spare the left-wing.

Now they might attack the right-wing more frequently, as what we've seen of late, is that when someone on the left-wing does something wrong, they quickly apologize and resign ... and when someone on the right-wing does something wrong, their sense of entitlement seems to stop them doing the right thing.

I'm still shocked that neither Hudak and Harper have competely disowned Ford yet.
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Id have to dig for an article, but back in the day when Rob started off he was actually endorsed by the Star.
 
OSS 117 said:
We could probably blame the whole thing on Adam Giambrone if we wanted to. If he hadn't had his (trivial seeming, now) scandal, the left wouldn't have had to parachute an unready candidate into his spot, and Ford probably would have lost. I can definitely see Giambrone holding his own in debates better than Pantalone, who, while he usually said the right things, just seemed to fade into the background.
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I'm happy to blame many things on Mr. Giambrone, but his scandal was the least of his problems, IMHO. He was amazingly arrogant and is a much, much more hard left politician than Miller. I would have a very hard time voting for Giambrone, even straight up Giambrone vs. Ford. I'd probably have to spoil my ballot.

There are a number of Chow haters amongst our older posters -- maybe she was more leftist in the past? -- but I don't get the sense of arrogance/inability to compromise that Giambrone gives off. I lived in Layton's riding forever, and wasn't a fan, but it meant we saw them a fair amount on paper or in person, and I don't think Chow would be a bad mayor.
 
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