The pause, I think will prove to be the prefiguration of what the second video the police claim to have is: it’s him, buying drugs, I’d bet the farm. The whole scene is part of a scenario being played out: the cops have him on video, scoring; the question is a plant to remind him that this is the case (I’m quite sure the cops have showed him what they have); the council has asked the police to not lay charges or start a more public investigation, in the hopes that Ford will leave office first (at which point it can be ex-mayor Ford, and not a mayor being charged; and the pause is Ford weighing these issues, knowing as soon as all this comes out, this tape will be the one people will refer back to. Given that there’s been no focus on the idea that he bought drugs before this, I don’t see how else to explain the odd tone and played-out quality it has.
I think this should bring an end to the not at all helpful “laughable bumbelfuck” trope that Boing Boing has attached to Ford. What is playing out is not at all in that category, with potential involvement of drug gangs, the police undercover unit, murder, disappearances, extortion, graft and god knows what. Every time I read that as a Torontonian, I feel a wave of anger towards Boing boing, for their tone-deaf unhelpful persistence. It’s patronizing, and makes you look like the consequences are less important than the amusement you get out of this terrible story. If nothing else, there really is some room for empathy for a very messed up guy, from a deeply dysfunctional family, with probably a somewhat lower than average set of abilities to deal with an awful situation which is not entirely of his own doing. I really loathe Ford the politician, his clan, and for the most part his party. But 'laughable bumbelfuck" is not the way to describe it.
