Part of me is incredibly sad. Part of me is unbelievably entertained, and part of me is mad at the entertained part.
I see a buddy flick with Charlie Sheen upcoming.
I find it amazing that Iâm saying this, but I actually think this article went a step too far. Not about Rob Ford, but about his wife. Are we supposed to be gawking at the idea of his having sex with other women in front of her with her permission? Is that some kind of shaming?
I think we could have had the same information if theyâd replaced those quotations with a statement like, âRob Ford then discussed having sex with his wife and details of their sex life with those present.â
Why bother with a Lear Jet? (you can skip to 1:30)
Just when I think heâs hit rock bottom and is either going to start the rehabilitation process or else die, he finds a deeper pit to throw himself down.
His kids werenât home. What he choses to do with his consenting friends and wife in his own home is his business.
Well, at least heâs not âlaughable bumblefuckâ anymore. He never was, of course, he was and is a sociopath whose lack of conscience and self-control has massively corroded the reputation, political coherence and functionality of a huge and important city, to the massive detriment of its 3+ million residents.
Heâs also a tool of a long-term conservative campaign against cities as bastions of progressive thinking: his constituency has its center in parts of the city that were amalgamated with the progressive center almost two decades ago, by a government that included his father as a cabinet minister, and whose remnants are now the ruling party in Canada, to the detriment of that countryâs 30+ million residents.
Ford is as much a part of a conservative program to destabilize politics as he is an out-of-control individual, and its been a real disservice to portray him as the latter, when the real issue has been and will continue to be the former.
I always hated the way Cory used âLaughable Bumblefuckâ, since it made Rob Ford seem less horrible than he actually is. More like the fool than than the tyrant king, if you know what I mean.
What he choses to do with his consenting friends and wife in his own home is his business.
⌠and the business of the people recording his conversations and then talking to reporters about it. At least we havenât seen the sex tape yet.
Iâm not so sure it is consenting - according to the story, his wife ignores his comments and his " " friends " " are âshocked.â
Is there anything this guy could do that would actually get him arrested?
But he really isnât the tyrant king. It took nearly a year for council to start ignoring him and treating him as a problem rather than a voice on the floor. Our system gives the mayor very limited powers beyond casting his one vote.
Heâs an arrogant, apparently remorseless, entitled jerk who obviously got to where he is because of daddyâs money and in spite of his own self-destructiveness. That makes him pretty detestable, but it doesnât actually make him the worst mayor ever. During his tenure four successive mayors of montreal have been arrest for corruption. Weâre talking tens of millions in unfairly awarded construction contracts. Would the city really have been better off under George Smitherman, a notorious egotistical bully who also wanted to cancel transit plans in favour of his own pet projects but who would have done better at building a consensus on council to implement his dumb ideas?
With Rob Ford, the idea of putting a dope in charge went a step too far and we actually put a real dope in charge. But because city council is not overshadowed by the executive (unlike provincial and federal legislatures), it was able to function anyway. Donât get me wrong, Iâd rather have a vacant mayoral seat than Rob Ford, but Iâd also rather have a vacant mayoral seat than most other candidates and Rob Ford was as close to vacant as it got.
Admittedly, I stretched a bit on that. I couldnât come up with a better way of saying it, but you are right. Toronto has not done any worse than many other cities, but get all the attention because Ford is one of those celebrity trainwrecks that many people love.
On the plus side for us Saskatonians, Rob Ford makes our former winner of the âCanadaâs Craziest Mayorâ competition on the Rick Mercer Report, Don Atcheson, look a lot less crazy. After all, he just wanted to put a dome over downtown.
I guess his wifeâs part in this is news worth repeating, but I think the Toronto Star has made a real mistake in going there.
Is there anything this guy could do that would actually get him arrested?
He could leave office?
Yeah, the worst mayor ever isnât the guy who wants to put a dome over downtown, itâs the guy who succeeds in putting a dome over downtown.
A few nights ago Jon Stewart did his typical setup for a spit-take joke, where he pulls out a cup of water before watching some news clip. But the clip was about Rob Ford behaving badly and thus no spit take. A spit take would have required him to provide guidance to the city council or maybe do a meet and greet with some local citizens to hear their concerns about civic matters. Stuff mayors are supposed to do.
It seems pretty safe to say that he is not going to survive the next election at this point, even if it is apparently really difficult to unseat a mayor in Toronto. Or maybe the city council is trying to rub the publicâs nose in it. See what you do when you let yourself be swayed by election commercials? SEE?!? Next time pay attention before you vote.
I wouldnât jump to that conclusion. I think if he loses some weight (weight = health, right?!?) and manages to not get caught on tape doing drugs or being drunk or saying racist things again before the election (this might be hard for him) he can certainly win the next election. I think he will serve as an example for future politicians that if you are bad, all you have to do is be sufficiently sociopathic to honestly say you donât care that people think you were bad and youâll be fine. A serious hole in our entire system is that we expect honour from elected representatives but set up the game in a way that honour is not a winning trait.
I think the key part was âYou can fâ her if you want, in front of me.â
Itâs not like theyâre a couple that enjoys an open relationship and she was the one who propositioned Fordâs guest in an appropriate context. He offered her as a sexual object the way a normal person might offer their guest a Pepsi. Whatever kind of relationship they have, that strikes me as demeaning.
I think thatâs an awfully embarrassing thing to print for his wife, a pretty lousy thing for his kids to read, and the only value it has to the public is letting people be judgemental of the mayorâs sexual relationship with his wife based on a transcript of a single statement.
Maybe his wife is into that, I donât know, but it sounds fucking horrible in a soundbite. Iâm also well past the point of giving Mayor Ford the benefit of the doubt.
And there is no way this guy is getting reelected, especially since he seems to have taken the âfuck it, lets party!â approach to losing most of his power and responsibility.
