[VTB]

That link needs Flash, something my tabs (ipad and samsung) don't run.

Honestly, in this day of mobile browsing, why do we still use Flash? Just think of all the content broadcasted online by traditional media firm that is never viewed because of Flash.

It's on Huffington Post now.

 

[dienw]

The Star talks about some of what happened on the show: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...on_the_daily_show_to_talk_about_rob_ford.html, and Doolittle talks a bit about the experience: http://www.thestar.com/news/city_ha...s_i_learned_as_a_guest_on_the_daily_show.html.

 

[NYCBoy2305]

It's on Huffington Post now.

Only an excerpt at Huffington.

 

[ttk77]

Has anyone here read Crazy Town yet? Is it worth picking up, or is it mostly just a re-hash of everything that's been discussed here?

 

[JStrachan]

I read it. It's a quick read. Some new details but like most here lots of will already be known. In all honesty it's not written that well. There are some great chapters on the early ford history as well as the erosion of public trust in journalism, but I was not blown away by the book.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Tell him to say hi to Peepers for me

Oh Peepers is still around - posting comments in the UT news threads with a no Halal avatar. Well, I am sure Porter would love to have him as the spokesperson.

 

[toros]

I read it. It's a quick read. Some new details but like most here lots of will already be known. In all honesty it's not written that well. There are some great chapters on the early ford history as well as the erosion of public trust in journalism, but I was not blown away by the book.

Not surprised to hear that - Robyn doesn't speak well at all in interviews.

 

[NorthYorkEd]

I give Doolittle about 5 more minutes before she "moves on" from the Star. I'm sure the phone has been ringing non-stop with potential job offers. She has certainly gained a lot of short-term traction from this story, but the long-term has yet to be seen. Fact is, regardless of some opinions about her journalism cred or writing ability, she is extremely competent on TV.

 

[typezed]

Again she repeated on The Daily Show that Rob Ford was successful because he returns every phonecall. And she made it sound like that was 100% - phone him about a sewer break on your street and he'd be there with city staff getting it fixed. While he certainly did and does some of this, I believe it's mostly Ford overstatement and myth. Like 'saved a billion dollars'. He has always made select constituency calls, often accompanied by media, when they prove his theories that government isn't meeting people's needs and therefore people are overtaxed. The working in the constituency claims were cover for the fact that he wasn't often present at City Hall and at committee meetings while he was a councillour. Now we should realize that was because his priorities were coaching football and hanging out with his buddies like an overage stoner.

Doolittle had a very short turnaround on this book and had more interesting leads to follow than investigating his rate of constituency calls. So she may be repeating commonly held belief and Ford self-promotion without actually having tested them. But it's something she has stated as fact in every interview I've seen her give.

 

[euler]

Not surprised to hear that - Robyn doesn't speak well at all in interviews.

She's relatively young, she speaks like many of my friends speak to each other. She peppers her speech with colloquialisms and sometimes a bit of slang. She just isn't used to it, I suppose.

I was once interviewed for a few news segments and even though I thought I was perfectly composed, when I saw the segments I looked completely out of place to an embarrassing degree. It's really hard! People who are always on TV really are professionals in more ways than one.

 

[blackballed]

Though (and also keeping in mind the suburban Burquitlam context), some jurisdictions in Toronto are stickier than others--North York Centre in particular, perhaps as spillover from the Mel era. (That's why you see many more pedestrians who actually stop at red no matter what up there.)

People realize that he wasn't ticketed for crossing a residential street in a leafy suburban neighborhoods, right?

Loughead (aka. Highway 7) and North Road is a major and dangerous intersection. The speed limit is at least 80. The Toronto equivalent would be something like the Queensway and Islington.

And they don't ticket you for jaywalking if you stray a bit outside the crosswalk. My guess, having grown up nearby, is that he was a danger to himself and others.

 

[euler]

Again she repeated on The Daily Show that Rob Ford was successful because he returns every phonecall.

I think this was probably more true in his councillor days. Enough people have stated it as fact, people who don't support him, that I'm willing to believe it.

I did call the mayor's office one with a real issue, and his staff got back to me within hours but they said if I wanted to talk to Rob it would be at least a month's wait. This was after the crack scandal broke, though. I guess he was busy. ;-)

 

[FraudNation]

http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/c..._ford_declares_thursday_as_bob_marley/cf8owgd

Saw this list on reddit... I wonder if anything has been missed?
Also, I think all the other candidates would do well to not use the term "taxpayer". Instead use "Citizen", "Voter" or another encompassing term to highlight his ingnorant needless divisiveness.


[–]tupac_chopra 29 points 17 hours ago*
"
Ok:
• you blew ~1.5 billion on a subway, when we could have spent $0 on a LRT that would have done the same job
• you lied to us about every aspect of the LRT vs subway "debate"
• you failed to find the "efficiencies" that you crowed were out there and instead had to break your promise of no service cuts
• you drained the cities' reserve funds to keep property taxes artificially low
• you barely show up to work for weeks at a time
• your behavior when you do show up for work is well below any professional standard i would expect for a mayor of even the most backwoods, hillbilly hamlet
• the cities finances are going to to be fucked for years because of your inability to manage things properly during your tenure – somebody is going to have to figure out how to pay for your subway (because you couldn't be bothered) and they will find the cupboard bare – you inherited record surpluses and managed to fritter it away with nothing to show for it
• you unrepentantly disrespect the taxpayers by brazenly lying about your financial track record
• you abused city staff by having them run errands for your wife and buy you booze while on the city dime
• you gave your neanderthal friends cushy, made-up jobs at double the salary
• you tried to funnel money into your family business from the city in the form of over-priced business cards
• you, again, abused city resources and the taxpayer by having city employees fix up the area around your family business "

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

typezed:

I think he returns every phone call within his core constituency group - it's pretty clear he doesn't really do that for everyone. In any case, his mayoralty feels like one big giant PR campaign with nothing else to it. Everything is about managing the message, photoops and soundbites - and when one asks where's the beef - there is nothing to be found other than more wildas* claims and repeat the message responses.

AoD

 

[Soop]

I think this was probably more true in his councillor days. Enough people have stated it as fact, people who don't support him, that I'm willing to believe it.

I did call the mayor's office one with a real issue, and his staff got back to me within hours but they said if I wanted to talk to Rob it would be at least a month's wait. This was after the crack scandal broke, though. I guess he was busy. ;-)

In the interview last night, she was referring to his councillor days. How his returning calls back then built up loyalty in people that is hard to break.