[pud99]

Huh. Just noticed that it got suspended... It would have been just overnight - I remember tweets from that account last night.

Yes, it was live as of last night.

Comments are starting to pop up on Twitter - a good number of them from people who did not recognize that it was a parody account. (My favourite - the letter on "official City letterhead", which, instead of saying "Doug Ford Councillor", said "Doug Ford Mayor's Brother".)

 

[SFO]

I really don't like how MetroMan keeps talking about "chatter" and "intel" like he's a fucking CIA agent. Call it what it really is: gossip. All respect to the man, but he's been wrong on this literally every time he has said it. He likes playing superhero but even a broken clock is right twice a day. This is getting tedious.

Yeah... I'm wrestling with this too. There have been a lot of MM false alarms over the past year. I'll grant that it does sound different this time but that's not quite convincing me to hold my breath.

 

[casita]

And Rob is on the radio this morning, touting his impeccable (work) record---he often works 28 hours a day.

reporterdonpeat 8:50am via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Mayor Rob Ford claims on AM640 that he's never missed a day of work.

Was last night all just a dream?

 

[pud99]

As I understand it, Twitter will suspend a parody account if there is evidence that some material number of people are dimwitted enough not to recognize that it is a parody from any clues less subtle than a sledgehammer - hence "@TOMayorFrod" was re-titled "@MayorCrimeLord".

 

[DD13]

Dude, he tweeted at 11 PM last night. Relax guy. Be patient.

I'm not saying that I'm not impatient, I'm saying that I am. And posts like "imminent" and "it's happening" could be more carefully chosen, don't you think? I have always prefaced my statements with the fact that Metroman is the reason I am at the forum and that I am grateful for his information. I was mostly trying to reassure myself by noting that he wouldn't put his ass on the line and risk a Sarah Thomson reputation, and therefore there must be some validity to his increasingly specific tweets.

 

[requiem]

The idea that Ford "won" the debate is so sickening to me. He just parroted the same talking points, didn't answer questions and didn't take responsibility for anything. In my mind, no one "won" because everyone was terrible and the format was a mess. There is one loser though, and that's this city. Can't believe this is the best we can do.

 

[themarc]

The idea that Ford "won" the debate is so sickening to me. He just parroted the same talking points, didn't answer questions and didn't take responsibility for anything. In my mind, no one "won" because everyone was terrible and the format was a mess. There is one loser though, and that's this city. Can't believe this is the best we can do.

Spot on.

 

[casita]

The idea that Ford "won" the debate is so sickening to me. He just parroted the same talking points, didn't answer questions and didn't take responsibility for anything. In my mind, no one "won" because everyone was terrible and the format was a mess. There is one loser though, and that's this city. Can't believe this is the best we can do.

I thought the other four would focus more on the fact that Rob was stripped of his powers. That he does not play well with Council, the Chief of Police, the Premier of Ontario, etc.

That he is not invited to some functions ( like the ribbon-cutting Norm Kelly had to do, and the Garrison Ball ). That we don't know where he is, or what condition he may be in if there is an emergency.

Based on that, I can't believe he did so well on the leadership vote.

 

[casita]

RE: a Rob Ford sex tape.

True. But You probably just envisioned a naked fat sweaty guy and some woman with low self esteem who couldn't be seen under his massive pink fleshy body.

For women it momentarily conjures up a disgusting mental image of an obese, red-faced, sweaty guy with bad teeth, boozey breath, b.o., bloodshot eyes and a spaced out expression leaning his crushing weight and his flapping gut on us while slurring I didn't get enough to eat yet; it's an accidental thought that could cause an epidemic of female ptsd. Again - ew!

If such a tape exists, the women of Toronto will start a crowd fund to buy - then burn it before it sees the light of day.

Betcha wish you could bleach your mind now huh? lol

They say power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

 

[JStrachan]

the problem with MetroMan's posts (and now tweets) is that they give us the impression that Giroux is sliding over the hood of a squad car and peeling down Royal York Road, sirens blazing.

I can only imagine that when and if (still a big, big if IMO) this happens, it will take longer than anyone thinks, and there will be no fireworks. As others have mentioned, it will happen quietly and a press conference will be called afterwards.

Also, that debate was goddamn near unwatchable. Boo to everyone.

 

[requiem]

I thought the other four would focus more on the fact that Rob was stripped of his powers. That he does not play well with Council, the Chief of Police, the Premier of Ontario, etc.

That he is not invited to some functions ( like the ribbon-cutting Norm Kelly had to do, and the Garrison Ball ). That we don't know where he is, or what condition he may be in if there is an emergency.

Based on that, I can't believe he did so well on the leadership vote.

There was SO MUCH they could have used without even talking directly about the crack use. Though I do wish someone had brought up the gang stuff and his "tough on crime" BS.

 

[dforthandbview]

There was SO MUCH they could have used without even talking directly about the crack use. Though I do wish someone had brought up the gang stuff and his "tough on crime" BS.

I agree 100%. It bugs the hell out of me that the main focus of the scandal is Ford's crack use. His supporters can look past that. He needs to be questioned about his gang connections. His supporters need this information shoved in their face. Ford has done business with gang members, people with guns, people that make this city less safe, etc... Hopefully at the next debate someone on the panel will use Ford's quote regarding him wanting you out of this city if you're in a gang and use that quote against him. Maybe then they will see the kind of guy Ford is. But then again, probably not. Nothing will sway them. I'm moving to another planet.

If Ford thinks his crack use is old news, then fine. Let's move the focus onto his connections with gangs.

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

I thought the other four would focus more on the fact that Rob was stripped of his powers. That he does not play well with Council, the Chief of Police, the Premier of Ontario, etc.

That he either is not invited to some functions ( like the ribbon-cutting Norm Kelly had to do ). That we don't know where he is, or what condition he may be in.

Based on that, I can't believe he did so well on the leadership vote.

A few points:
-Tory did mention he was stripped of his powers; or at least he said something significant about how the key isn't just having an agenda it's being able to get it through council and something to the effect of, "You couldn't even get them to agree to a motion about what day of the week it is."

-Ford's campaign seems to be banking on the notion that it will be a very different council next time but that's not the strongest argument for leadership. The point is to be able to work with what you have and he seems to want it both ways: That he got done all this amazing stuff no one said he could (IN HIS FIRST YEAR!) and also that this council is intransigent but the next one will see the light. You either can work with council, whoever it consists of, or you can't.

-I know it's disturbing, the notion he "won" the debate, but he did. Rocky "won" in the first movie by standing up through 12 rounds to the champ. If you don't think Rob did the same yesterday, you weren't watching. He lied his ass off and the format was a joke (though I liked them giving air time to the fringe candidates) but it played to him. None of the others knocked him off message or clearly took apart his lies. Socknacki did a bit, saying the $1B was a fiction, but he couldn't spell out WHY so Ford just kept going with it. The fact there was no follow-up to the crack question had a similar effect. John Tory should have said, "No, sir, I am NOT perfect but I do not consort with gangs and I do not smoke hard drugs and I would never lie to the public for months on end if I had somehow done any of those things so it is up to the voters to decide if they expect PERFECTION but I certainly think they deserve to have an honourable and honest human being run this city and that, Mr. Ford, I can pledge to be."
Instead we got a commercial break.
So, love it or lump it, Ford won.

But it's early and just because he appears to have won so many battles doesn't mean he's on the brink of losing the war.

(I'll also just add: I have friends on Facebook or Twitter etc. who support the various candidates. These are the people who, say, decided they were a Chow person long before she decided to run. These people are all wearing rose-coloured glasses. They're going on about how strong she was or how Tory was the only real statesman up there - they're all wrong. None of the candidates rose to the occasion unless you set the bar at, "I'm not worse than Ford." I think they ARE better than that, but none of them lived up to it yesterday, IMHO.)

 

[SFO]

the problem with MetroMan's posts (and now tweets) is that they give us the impression that Giroux is sliding over the hood of a squad car and peeling down Royal York Road, sirens blazing.

I can only imagine that when and if (still a big, big if IMO) this happens, it will take longer than anyone thinks, and there will be no fireworks. As others have mentioned, it will happen quietly and a press conference will be called afterwards.

Also, that debate was goddamn near unwatchable. Boo to everyone.

And as someone else pointed out, Ford will be quickly out on bail and pretending like nothing happened, answering no questions, "innocent until proven guilty," etc. etc. It's doubtful that even the arrest will be the shoe drop many of us want it to be.

 

[newearthling]

In November, when council was debating over stripping Ford of his powers, RoFo went over to the gallery to intimidate them. One guy kept repeating "How do you know Anthony Smith, you lying scumbag?!" And Ford reacted quite visibly to that question.

That is the level of discourse the other candidates need to take with Ford. They can be polite and Canadian with each other, but they need to play hardball with Ford, to get through all the delusion and lies.

Then he can be marginalized and ignored.