[Jimmi T]

http://www.torontosun.com/2016/01/26/voters-dont-have-buyers-remorse-with-tory-poll

The former mayor somehow has a 39% approval rating...



The similarities are eerie.

And Cruz sort of reminds me of a colder, creepier Harper.

 

[JWBF]

The difference between Trump and the Fords has narrowed considerably. Trump has pulled out of the latest GOP debate and has a dusey of a press release as to why:

As someone who wrote one of the best-selling business books of all time, The Art of the Deal, who has built an incredible company, including some of the most valuable and iconic assets in the world, and as someone who has a personal net worth of many billions of dollars, Mr. Trump knows a bad deal when he sees one. FOX News is making tens of millions of dollars on debates, and setting ratings records (the highest in history), where as in previous years they were low-rated afterthoughts.

Unlike the very stupid, highly incompetent people running our country into the ground, Mr. Trump knows when to walk away. Roger Ailes and FOX News think they can toy with him, but Mr. Trump doesn't play games. There have already been six debates, and according to all online debate polls including Drudge, Slate, Time Magazine, and many others, Mr. Trump has won all of them, in particular the last one. Whereas he has always been a job creator and not a debater, he nevertheless truly enjoys the debating process—and it has been very good for him, both in polls and popularity.

He will not be participating in the FOX News debate and will instead host an event in Iowa to raise money for the Veterans and Wounded Warriors, who have been treated so horribly by our all talk, no action politicians. Like running for office as an extremely successful person, this takes guts and it is the kind mentality our country needs in order to Make America Great Again.

http://www.vice.com/read/read-donal...ent-on-why-he-wont-be-at-thursdays-fox-debate

 

[old boy]

Could it have anything to do with attention span ?

 

[the lemur]

it seems he and Renata have turned things around

Have they?

 

[riffraff]

I wonder how he's getting on with his brother Doug.

 

[Videodrome]

Have they?

If I was that close to death, I would patch things up with my wife too.

 

[the lemur]

I wonder how he's getting on with his brother Doug.

I was thinking the other day how Doug's comment about how 'Rob could murder someone on the [non-existent] steps of City Hall and still get elected' could be considered an expression of resentment, since Doug doesn't have anywhere near that level of popularity.

 

[pattycakes]

I was thinking the other day how Doug's comment about how 'Rob could murder someone on the [non-existent] steps of City Hall and still get elected' could be considered an expression of resentment, since Doug doesn't have anywhere near that level of popularity.

The "Cut the Waist" challenge told me everything I needed to know about Doug and Rob's relationship. IIRC it was Doug's idea.

 

[Jimmi T]

The "Cut the Waist" challenge told me everything I needed to know about Doug and Rob's relationship. IIRC it was Doug's idea.

Ya, I read that in Towhey's book. Staff hated the idea, so did Rob. Towhey thought Doug wanted to use it to beat and embarrass Rob. He was obsessed with being seen as the smarter, better looking brother.

 

[rbt]

Ya, I read that in Towhey's book. Staff hated the idea, so did Rob. Towhey thought Doug wanted to use it to beat and embarrass Rob. He was obsessed with being seen as the smarter, better looking brother.

I distinctly recall being unhappy about Rob being elected, but thankful that atleast Doug was there. My thought process at the time was he might apply some business efficiency knowledge to the police budget and free up money for a future mayor.

Doug being in the public eye really reduced my opinion of his abilities.

 

[Jimmi T]

Until Doug started appearing regularly in the press, I thought he was the smarter brother.

The theme throughout Towhey's book and Doolittle's thus far is that Doug's an ever bigger bully and buffoon than Rob--and he's got a huge ego and meddles constantly. And he threatens to beat people up all the time, including Towhey. That's why Ciano quit Rob's campaign. It's no wonder the Ontario PCs want nothing to do with him.

 

[riffraff]

But Lisi threatened to throw acid in a girl's face and to microwave another girl's dog... Ok, Ford threatened to shoot Renata but, unlike Lisi, I don't think he'd ever act on his threats.

I'll bet there are plenty of threats against Renata he did act upon - like abducting the kids to Florida without her permission and other more mundane threats of violence against her. How often has he hidden behind his kids to make threats? or pleas for his family's "privacy" as he threatened the media against reporting on his behavior?

Sometimes the threat of violence, or intimidation. or exposure can be more effective than actually carrying it out. How about his threats against councilors at City Hall that he could expose them all for their "imperfections", or against city staff. I recall some complaints about him to the integrity commissioner/ombudsman while he was mayor. Or of having the community centre worker Mammo reported sleeping on the job fired - IIRC this man died a few weeks later of a health condition.

Threats and intimidation, ridicule and harassment kept councilors from talking about their "concerns" about his drinking on the job until he attended high profile public events in his role as Mayor repeatedly incapacitated, and only after that did any of them suggest that it may have been more than alcohol effecting him. His blatant bully tactics on his friends, in his family, on his football players, on the streets, and on council, as well a his lying, have long been his modus operendi and have been well documented.

Even you Jimmi have expressed being uncomfortable with Ford. I'm not willing to absolve him or his family because it turns out he's nearing the end. Renata and the kids however will have to to move on.

ETA I hope no family ever has so many crater-sized potholes to patch up.

 

[Videodrome]

The theme throughout Towhey's book and Doolittle's thus far is that Doug's an ever bigger bully and buffoon than Rob--and he's got a huge ego and meddles constantly. And he threatens to beat people up all the time, including Towhey. That's why Ciano quit Rob's campaign. It's no wonder the Ontario PCs want nothing to do with him.

I can just imagine a rebuilding CPC trying to deal with Doug and his ego...

 

[PinkLucy]

I distinctly recall being unhappy about Rob being elected, but thankful that atleast Doug was there. My thought process at the time was he might apply some business efficiency knowledge to the police budget and free up money for a future mayor.

Doug being in the public eye really reduced my opinion of his abilities.

Ditto.

 

[the lemur]

Ya, I read that in Towhey's book. Staff hated the idea, so did Rob. Towhey thought Doug wanted to use it to beat and embarrass Rob. He was obsessed with being seen as the smarter, better looking brother.

More presentable maybe, but I don't know that Doug is anyone's idea of smart or good-looking. It probably bothers him that people think Rob is nicer.