[PinkLucy]

I wonder if the job interferes with his drinking and doping?

I think that is the heart of the problem. And I fixed that for you

 

[tjcv74]

A lot of people speculate on who exactly is Ford Nation.

There is a bar in town I frequent and there is one guy that encapsulates all of the Ford Nation soundbites.

He's in his late 60's former unionized factory electrician, he reads The Sun everyday and watches cp24 on the one bar monitor, he says it's the only news channel worth watching. He bemoans unions in spite of it providing a very nice pension to him, a typical "I got mine f youse" attitude. When I argue with him he says "Saves Taxpayers billions, not our business what he does on his own time, I've seen you drunk " etc, when I point out the fallacies of his arguments he just goes back to reading his Sun and watching cp24.

Nothing any of us say will change these people, they are like the American Taliban (Tea Party), facts don't matter.

I notice Ford doesn't really have an organized campaign, I suspect Rub and Tug know the hammer is falling and have decided not to throw good money after bad, hopefully the hammer falls soon but my guess is it'll be late April or May before we see any charges.

"Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed." - Nietzsche

That describes every member of Ford Nation to some degree. They love their illusions and are desperate to keep them.

 

[fishie]

Asthma, sure. Could also be "crack lung."

Yup - always wondered about that. I don't think his "asthma" has ever come up again...

 

[casita]

This should be quoted by every City Hall reporter when he or Doug claims activitiies were on "private time". I'd like to see the reporters take it up a couple of notches against them when the lies start. They're getting better but could put the pressure up a little higher.

I was reading about that rail car disaster in Megantic, Quebec. That train was scheduled to pass through Toronto along Dupont St.

Even if the mayor is enjoying "a couple of pops" in his basement late at night, can you imagine having to rely on him? I'm not talking about photo ops during the Ice Storm. ( And, where was he at the beginning? BTW )

I mean if there was a Mass Casualty Incident and an emergency evacuation.

The bar has been set so low for him that as long as he doesn't drive under the influence, Doug and many others seem to be ok with it.

Incidentally, does Rob ever drive the Escalade himself anymore? I wonder if Doug took away his keys ( does the Escalade belong to Rob, or DECO? )

 

[Crazy]

95% of the comments on this Sun story are anti-Ford: http://www.torontosun.com/2014/03/1...-i-thought-doug-ford-on-latest-rob-ford-video

They bring up valid points like (1) Bullshit (2) Who wants a drunk stranger calling you at 11pm? (3) Why is he unable to ask Rob what happened, but a cabbie was able to provide details (4) So he was drinking on the job, at City Hall? Etc. Etc. Etc.

I posted on that story, but I wouldn't interpret the overwhelmingly negative reaction to Ford's latest stupidity to mean that he doesn't have his supporters at the Sun. I think his supporters are just too demoralized right now to get into it with the anti-Ford commenters.

 

[Dubster]

I was reading about that rail car disaster in Megantic, Quebec. That train was scheduled to pass through Toronto along Dupont St.

Even if the mayor is enjoying "a couple of pops" in his basement late at night, can you imagine having to rely on him? I'm not talking about photo ops during the Ice Storm. ( And, where was he at the beginning? BTW )

I mean if there was a Mass Casualty Incident and an emergency evacuation.

The bar has been set so low for him that as long as he doesn't drive under the influence, Doug and many others seem to be ok with it.

Incidentally, does Rob ever drive the Escalade himself anymore? I wonder if Doug took away his keys ( does the Escalade belong to Rob, or DECO? )

That train runs 50m from my house where myself, my wife and my two children live.

 

[tariqata]

I posted on that story, but I wouldn't interpret the overwhelmingly negative reaction to Ford's latest stupidity to mean that he doesn't have his supporters at the Sun. I think his supporters are just too demoralized right now to get into it with the anti-Ford commenters.

Seems like supporters who are too demoralized to stand up for their guy today are probably also going to be less likely to vote in October. Not necessarily a win for any of the other candidates, but that could be a loss for Ford.

 

[casita]

That train runs 50m from my house where myself, my wife and my two children live.

I guess you have seen the route already. But, for anyone who has not:
http://www.canadians.org/blog/could-toronto-be-next-lac-mégantic-disaster

 

[rightwingSUVdriver]

I guess you have seen the route already. But, for anyone who has not:
http://www.canadians.org/blog/could-toronto-be-next-lac-mégantic-disaster

Wow. That's an eye opener.

 

[anne]

There is a bar in town I frequent and there is one guy that encapsulates all of the Ford Nation soundbites.
...he just goes back to reading his Sun and watching cp24.

Nothing any of us say will change these people, they are like the American Taliban (Tea Party), facts don't matter.

I notice Ford doesn't really have an organized campaign, I suspect Rub and Tug know the hammer is falling and have decided not to throw good money after bad...

At the risk of sounding really stupid, I gotta ask... when did CP24 become a source of news for tea party types? I don't get the channel but I thought CP stood for "City Pulse" as in Citypulse news - CITY tv. Was it not an unbiased, or even left leaning station when it started out under Moses Znaimer? They are after all responsible for Much Music and were among the first tv networks in Canada to make efforts to feature more women, dark-skinned; reporters and anchors, and disabled personalities. That is rather progressive given the era it began. What did I miss? I know it was sold some years ago, or at least I thought it was but did the new owner throw the old audience out and begin again or just slowly morph into frankenstein?

Regarding your comment about money for a campaign, there may also be the thought in their tiny brains that they are so popular that they don't need to spend campaign money. They get enough free advertising with all the antics they pull and it appears they think it fires up their supporters to see the media pick on them. It's not like nobody knows who the Fords are so buying election signs wouldn't be needed. They get to speak whenever they want to larger audiences than most council candidates. Perhaps they just think this IS their campaign.

 

[PinkLucy]

CP24 is quick and dirty, sensational and doesn't always worry about getting the facts 100% straight. Kind of like the Sun. Hence Ford Nation.

 

[anne]

I left lurkerdom just to say: YES. You have hit the nail right on the head.

What he stands for (at least in the heads of Ford Nationals) is saving money & standing up for the average Joe against the pinko, spenderrific, downtown elites. They see themselves as victims (usually for having slightly less privilege than they had in the good ole days) who are supporting lazy, elitist 'downtowners' with their hard-earned tax dollars. Supporting Ford is sticking it back to the people who stick it to them, and anyone who tries to tell them that he doesn't stand for what they think he stands for - that his lies and catchphrases are empty - are just trying to keep them down.

Thanks for unlurking. Good comment.
And yes, I suspect you are both right but it saddens me to think that people who may be friends or neighbours believe that I am one of the people they should despise simply because my views are a little left of theirs. If they bothered to ask me why my views are as such, I'd tell them because I grew up poor and I realize that the world is not so black and white as some people like to believe. There are cracks to fall through and as a society we have a duty to try to close those cracks so that others also do not fall in. I am privileged to live in a country which (begrudgingly at times) takes care of those less fortunate and I would not want to see us return to the days where selfishness and spite kept people from being able to eat or feed their kids and kept them firmly in poverty inter-generationally. I suggest they read "the Great Depression" by Pierre Berton to understand why Unions gained ground in Canada and why we should fight to never see anyone beholding to the company store. Slavery is (not quite but almost) dead and buried, and it should stay that way.

The irony is that the people who tend to gripe the loudest about unions, welfare and the like are people who would be rejected by the upper classes. Some steel worker would not have been welcome in the home of a gentleman of the 1860's, and he would likely die of black lung or some other work-related disease because nobody would have stood up for him. They ignore history to their own peril.

 

[casita]

CP24 is quick and dirty, sensational and doesn't always worry about getting the facts 100% straight. Kind of like the Sun. Hence Ford Nation.

I remember years ago, a certain TV station - I better not say which one - showed up at an ambulance call for a "Child Struck" just as we were pulling away in the ambulance taking the lad to Sick Kids. This was back when the "Live Eye", or whatever they called it was still something of a novelty.

Back then, I used to record the local news on my Sony Betamax and watch it when I got home. I've always done that, actually.

Anyway, they showed a bicycle sticking out from under a car. It was quite shocking.

But, the funny thing is, the kid was a pedestrian!

 

[casita]

The irony is that the people who tend to gripe the loudest about unions, welfare and the like are people who would be rejected by the upper classes. Some steel worker would not have been welcome in the home of a gentleman of the 1860's, and he would likely die of black lung or some other work-related disease because nobody would have stood up for him. They ignore history to their own peril.

I belonged to one of Mayor Ford's unions for 36+ years. But, I am happy to say we did not have, and did not seek, the right to strike.

 

[guy caballero]

At the risk of sounding really stupid, I gotta ask... when did CP24 become a source of news for tea party types? I don't get the channel but I thought CP stood for "City Pulse" as in Citypulse news - CITY tv. .

CP24 now stands for CablePulse24 and is owned by BELL Canada since 2010. It was bought from CHUM Ltd. who bought CityTV in June 2007.
Time flies but Fords apparent arrest is going slow as OPP/TPS make sure it goes right.