[Conrad Black]

I guess we'll see about that.

 

[nohostages]

I don't know if hotmail lawyer knows it, but Rob will definitely perjure himself if he's put on the stand. It doesn't even have to be about anything "important" -- it could be a minor detail. But he can't help himself, he lies even when he doesn't need to. Like the 2006 ACC incident -- first he tries to say "I wasn't even threre" -- I mean to lie about a fact that can be so easily proven!! No matter how well they coach him, he will want to give one of those over-the-top lies: "I've never met the guy" "I've never been there in my life!", etc.

Or how about "I've never known Sandro to use any drugs"

 

[animatronic]

Or how about "I've never known Sandro to use any drugs"

Might be wrong but I don't recall the ITO or the news articles ever suggesting that sandro used drugs.

 

[the lemur]

(I also like that their picture caption wrongly implies that Rob Ford is Lisi's lawyer. Oh, that would have made things more interesting for sure.)

Lionel Hutz: Thank you, Dr. Hibbert. I rest my case.
Judge Snyder: You rest your case?
Lionel Hutz: What? Oh no, I thought that was just a figure of speech. Case closed.

 

[the lemur]

He's not smart enough to stick to what his lawyers tell him; there's no way, for example, the very-good lawyer he had in the conflict-of-interest hearing said the wise move was to sit on the stand, explain what HE though "conflict of interest" meant and, having re-defined the law on his own terms, run with that.

Again: Rob Ford is not smart.

There are limits to pleading ignorance (idiocy?), but it's surprising how many prominent people will claim they had no idea of what was going on right in front of them or that they shouldn't have done something. Blatchford wrote the other day that Mike Duffy seemed to be using the George Costanza 'Was that wrong?' defence.

 

[the lemur]

i agree that the legal decision is clear. but on a more basic level, she was confronted with (we assume?) a "doctor's note" to the effect that this witness isn't well enough to sit in a comfortable chair across the street from his office and answer some questions. she also, unless she's been under a rock, is confronted with all kinds of evidence to the contrary: rob's travelled abroad, campaigned for others, cut ribbons, sat in council, and done promo work recently. there's no school teacher on earth who would accept rob's sick note.

i would not bet $10 of my own money that rob will ever take the stand. in fact, i'm pretty sure that come september there will be some other excuse.

There aren't that many things that would prevent him from testifying, though, are there? Still recovering in September seems implausible if the whole reason for operating is the reduced size of the tumour ... some other medical reason might come up, I guess.

Or, as adma suggested, Ford's medical issues are more serious than is being acknowledged and he is running out the clock until he is definitely too sick to testify when September rolls around.

 

[dforthandbview]

I don't know if hotmail lawyer knows it, but Rob will definitely perjure himself if he's put on the stand. It doesn't even have to be about anything "important" -- it could be a minor detail. But he can't help himself, he lies even when he doesn't need to. Like the 2006 ACC incident -- first he tries to say "I wasn't even threre" -- I mean to lie about a fact that can be so easily proven!! No matter how well they coach him, he will want to give one of those over-the-top lies: "I've never met the guy" "I've never been there in my life!", etc.

I'm not sure how easily a perjury charge is handed down to someone on the stand but I would imagine that lawyers would do their best to get the truth out of Ford.
For example:
Did you have breakfast this morning?
No, I didn't.
But we have a photo of you at the kitchen table.
Ooooh wait, now that I think about it a bit more, yes I did have breakfast.

Is that committing perjury? Technically he did lie but then he recanted.

 

[the lemur]

I don't know if hotmail lawyer knows it, but Rob will definitely perjure himself if he's put on the stand. It doesn't even have to be about anything "important" -- it could be a minor detail. But he can't help himself, he lies even when he doesn't need to. Like the 2006 ACC incident -- first he tries to say "I wasn't even threre" -- I mean to lie about a fact that can be so easily proven!! No matter how well they coach him, he will want to give one of those over-the-top lies: "I've never met the guy" "I've never been there in my life!", etc.

Rob Ford seems to be one of those people who think the worst thing in the whole world is to be proved factually wrong or shown to be flat-out lying, even about small-scale stuff. He thinks it's easier to lie his way out of a lie, piling one bald-faced bit of dishonesty on top of another the way Doug does. The difference is that Rob cares when he's called on it, even though he can't do his own damage control.

 

[John_Dee]

Or, as adma suggested, Ford's medical issues are more serious than is being acknowledged and he is running out the clock until he is definitely too sick to testify when September rolls around.

But surely the fact that he might not even be alive come September should have played some role in the decision to let him slither off the hook for testifying now. If Ford was in truly bad shape right now, fine, let him abstain. But he's obviously, manifestly, demonstrably well enough to take the witness stand. Openly lah-de-dah-ing in an Easter parade with his devoted fanbase mere days ago is proof enough of that.

 

[toonderly]

Rob Ford seems to be one of those people who think the worst thing in the whole world is to be proved factually wrong or shown to be flat-out lying, even about small-scale stuff. He thinks it's easier to lie his way out of a lie, piling one bald-faced bit of dishonesty on top of another the way Doug does. The difference is that Rob cares when he's called on it, even though he can't do his own damage control.

I don't think it's the facts that trouble him. I think the most important thing to Rob is to avoid punishment. He does whatever occurs to him at the immediate moment that seems like it will avoid or defer the punishment. But if there's no threat of punishment right in front of him he can't help himself from doing and saying stupid things. That's why he (for example) occasionally makes formal apologies even though he isn't super super super sorry -- and immediately before and after churlishly demonstrates that he didn't want to apologize at all. And why he tries to lie about not being at the Air Canada Centre, etc.

 

[animatronic]

I don't think it's the facts that trouble him. I think the most important thing to Rob is to avoid punishment. He does whatever occurs to him at the immediate moment that seems like it will avoid or defer the punishment. But if there's no threat of punishment right in front of him he can't help himself from doing and saying stupid things. That's why he (for example) occasionally makes formal apologies even though he isn't super super super sorry -- and immediately before and after churlishly demonstrates that he didn't want to apologize at all. And why he tries to lie about not being at the Air Canada Centre, etc.

The Fords are 100% tactics and 0% strategy. They only times rob has done well on a big stage is when someone else is running strategy and he listens.

 

[Jimmi T]

Might be wrong but I don't recall the ITO or the news articles ever suggesting that sandro used drugs.

Wasn't there a part where he and Payman were caught smoking a joint?

 

[Jimmi T]

The Fords are 100% tactics and 0% strategy. They only times rob has done well on a big stage is when someone else is running strategy and he listens.

Ya I spoke with Del Grande once about what it was like working with Rob. He says he contributed very little. He just lets others run things for him while he's off doing who knows what but then takes credit for other people's achievements.

 

[the lemur]

But surely the fact that he might not even be alive come September should have played some role in the decision to let him slither off the hook for testifying now. If Ford was in truly bad shape right now, fine, let him abstain. But he's obviously, manifestly, demonstrably well enough to take the witness stand. Openly lah-de-dah-ing in an Easter parade with his devoted fanbase mere days ago is proof enough of that.

I wonder if the doctor's letter said something to the effect that Ford was probably fit to testify now but he would perform better by September - less likely to get tired/confused? If the truth is that he will probably get worse by September, then they're stalling until he can't testify at all ...

 

[the lemur]

I don't think it's the facts that trouble him. I think the most important thing to Rob is to avoid punishment. He does whatever occurs to him at the immediate moment that seems like it will avoid or defer the punishment. But if there's no threat of punishment right in front of him he can't help himself from doing and saying stupid things. That's why he (for example) occasionally makes formal apologies even though he isn't super super super sorry -- and immediately before and after churlishly demonstrates that he didn't want to apologize at all. And why he tries to lie about not being at the Air Canada Centre, etc.

That's true. It could be the after-effects of Doug Sr's brand of discipline.