[casita]

So, is everyone ready for the internet to explode if/when Rob's health update isn't good?

I feel guilty for checking, but Rob, even without any news on his health, is climbing steadily up the ladder. He is now ranked directly behind B .B. King ( DOB 1925 ).

 

[nfitz]

Behold the wonders of YouTube (and the geeks that populate it!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4eYrRkY9_A&list=PL439FCB772D4282FD

Oh dear ... though I can't abide watching TV like that. But I could probably torrent a copy that I could play on my TV!

Thanks for this! I've been tempted to show the 1970s Wonder Woman to my 6-year old ... but this actually may be more appropriate! To tell the truth I'd long since forgotten my early love until her recent rise to international prominence!

 

[fishie]

Much to my annoyance, we can only get CBC, and since our cable provider switched to HD, we can't even get that, on the older TV. Which means I tend to tune in for Rick Mercer Report and This Hour has 22 Minutes, if the timing's right - and occasionally Hockey Night in Canada (or what will be left of it on CBC :'( . So I don't see many Canadian political ads. I did see some during the last federal election and was a little shocked to see the vitriol ramped up to something a bit closer to the US style attack ads from the way campaigns were being run when I left home.

But only a bit closer. My goodness, the hate 'n hostility level of both the candidate and the PAC ads here lately is off the charts. It seems to me to have ramped up here too, in the 15+ years we've lived here, but some MI natives have argued with me on that. I must say, that ad you linked shocked the heck out of me, too. As have a few others, this go-round - the rhetoric is something fierce from all interested parties.

I'm starting to wonder why anyone bothers to spend the money, since attack and counterattack hubub is SO high they pretty much drown each other out. Might serve better to cement existing support than to sway anyone's vote? If they're after the staunch Independents like me, they just make me wish 'a plague o' both (all) their houses' - but do at least make me go do my homework about the candidate and issue they've raised...and their candidate's record also. Amazing how often they seem to be trying to strike first, when their own candidate isn't lily-white about the self-same issue, or has a much bigger flaw, when I take the closer look! No lack of nerve and name-calling in politics here - and implied 'fact' is a shockingly distorted thing, aimed at achieving maximum crippling divisiveness, it seems to me. :\

(I haven't researched the anti-Trott ad, btw - can't comment on accuracy there. Not my congressional district, so I just went 'YIKES!!!' and left it there).

Well, not being a Michigander (lol love that term, especially when said by MichiGAANders ) myself, I second your "YIKES!!!" and also leave it there.

 

[John_Dee]

That is, presuming there'll still be Fords and Mammos keeping the myth going. And presuming that future contenders aren't as tin-eared in their hopeful idealism as Tory, Chow, and--sadly--Domise turned out to be this time.

That might be expecting too much, Adma. I was genuinely horrified by Chow's incompetent, politically tone-deaf performance during the campaign - and God knows, Tory wasn't much better - but I wasn't surprised by it. After Ford slithered his way into City Hall, I began hanging out at a fairly well known Canadian political website that caters to the left. I was already a member of this site (and had been for some time), but I rarely visited because I usually found the dialogue there to be too dry and policy wonk-like for my tastes. Nevertheless, with a wild-eyed, extremist lunatic somehow having ensconced himself quite comfortably in the Toronto Mayor's office, I wanted to be among like-minded people who'd feel the same way that I did about such an appalling situation. And surely the official, self-appointed Canadian left as a whole would have the same reaction that many of us here did, i.e. horror, unhappiness, revulsion. After all, they're the ones you'd expect to be the biggest opposition to the likes of Slob and Thug Ford. Sounds reasonable...right?

Ho, ho. If I were to sum up the leftists contributing to that site with one word, it would be "useless:" absolutely no street smarts whatsoever, very little in the way of plain, old fashioned common sense to boot, and all the self-preservation skills of a herd of lemmings stampeding off a cliff. Given that Ford slimed his way to being Mayor with the most deliberately divisive and irresponsibly demagogic campaign in the city's history, you'd think the left here would regard him with a very cold eye, or a certain amount of suspicion at the very least. But these naive waifs kept bending over backwards to be "fair" to Ford well beyond the point of simple sanity, giving him credit he didn't deserve for self-aggrandizing photo op moments - in this, they were far more credulous than out-and-out Ford Nayshun members, and these people were supposed to be Ford's political enemies! - and stupidly insisted on giving the benefit of doubt after doubt after doubt to St. Slob, well past the point where it was demonstrable Ford lied every time he opened his greasy mouth. Yes, there was some criticism of Ford, mainly of the polite, well mannered, finger-wagging school; gentle "tsk tsks" for the most part. I believe somebody actually went so far as to refer to him as a jerk once. Gasp!

One specific anecdote that still burns me up when I remember it: Perhaps some of you recall the Fords doing a special edition of their radio program at the Ex a couple of years back? Even by their standards, it was a remarkable performance. The two pigs were at some booth at the CNE and simply spewed out lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie, directly onto the airwaves. Torontoist compiled a list of every single falsehood, and I posted a link to the story at this forum. The only one to respond to it was some dimwit who immediately began hysterically shrieking to high heaven that this "proved" the Toronto Star was "out to get" the poor, persecuted widdle Fords, and that he might just end up voting for innocent, helpless, defenseless l'il Rob come Election Day, just to spite that bad ol' Star. Ye Gods!

 

[casita]

One specific anecdote that still burns me up when I remember it: Perhaps some of you recall the Fords doing a special edition of their radio program at the Ex a couple of years back? Even by their standards, it was a remarkable performance. The two pigs were at some booth at the CNE and simply spewed out lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie, directly onto the airwaves. Torontoist compiled a list of every single falsehood, and I posted a link to the story at this forum. The only one to respond to it was some dimwit who immediately began hysterically shrieking to high heaven that this "proved" the Toronto Star was "out to get" the poor, persecuted widdle Fords, and that he might just end up voting for innocent, helpless, defenseless l'il Rob come Election Day, just to spite that bad ol' Star. Ye Gods!

The Rob Ford Radio Recap: Live From the CNE
http://torontoist.com/2013/08/the-rob-ford-radio-recap-live-from-the-cne/

Also a vid on Youtube of Rob and Doug riding the Polar Bear Express.

 

[StatGeek]

Are the Fords again benefiting from "lowered standards" in making them look good. An incumbent (which Ford was) getting 34% is a record low (I went back to the 70s to look) Everybody was giving such a low bar for the Fords predicting low 20s even though polls showed they were going to be around 30% and now the spin is saying "wow look how impressive Doug is" Incumbents have a HUGE advantage (look at council), especially first year mayors for him ending up in the mid 30s is not impressive. It reminds me of when Ford approval was 40% and the spin was "He's holding steady" yeah he's steady bad or Rob able to get through a press conference without making a total fool of himself. The bar is so low.

Let's put Doug 34% in perspective. That number is LOWER than recent one-and-done Barbara Hall losing to Lastman in the new amalgamated city and even lower than the totally forgettable June Rowlands (36%) Most have mocked George Smitherman in the previous election (also 36%) which was still a higher percentage than Thug. None of these names are considered great political hope or got the positive spin as Doug has. Let's not even begin to mention Ford with the likes of Miller, Lastman and Eggleton who all went into easy victories in the second term.

So because Doug got 34% he's the great conservative hope? Did everybody forget that Tory got 38% in 2003 and it didn't translate to any more conservative votes. The Ford's have always been populist who scam antics will not really play province wide. How will they bash the LRT when cities like Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener would love to have one, would he call all those towns "second class" because of it? Another thing is that he's horrible at playing with others, which is huge in party politics. Look how quickly he threw his budget chief Del Grande and deputy mayor Kelly under the bus to save his ass and make himself look good.

Which of course brings me to Wormington bizarre claim of wanting Tory to have Ford as "a" deputy Mayor. Riiiiigh after what Ford did to people in his administration when things get rough, nobody trusts him.

 

[Cooper]

Sorry to hear that, lizangel. I appreciate your contributions.


WTF, all of you? This person came here to share info and people here attack her for no reason? No wonder we have no new information here for a year, unless Jimmi T tells something or I see something while out for a drive. Or the user who found Karla's family history info. How about actually doing something yourself instead of spinning off silly theories and attacking other people?

I agree. lizangel's comments about a cleft pallet were pretty tame. I don't see why she why she got jumped considering it seems to be OK to speculate here on whether Mike has FAS or autism. I don't even want to think about the giggling over his rumoured sexual orientation. Sheesh.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Thank you saying what must be said JD!

AoD

 

[animatronic]

Are the Fords again benefiting from "lowered standards" in making them look good. An incumbent (which Ford was) getting 34% is a record low (I went back to the 70s to look) Everybody was giving such a low bar for the Fords predicting low 20s even though polls showed they were going to be around 30% and now the spin is saying "wow look how impressive Doug is" Incumbents have a HUGE advantage (look at council), especially first year mayors for him ending up in the mid 30s is not impressive. It reminds me of when Ford approval was 40% and the spin was "He's holding steady" yeah he's steady bad or Rob able to get through a press conference without making a total fool of himself. The bar is so low.

Let's put Doug 34% in perspective. That number is LOWER than recent one-and-done Barbara Hall losing to Lastman in the new amalgamated city and even lower than the totally forgettable June Rowlands (36%) Most have mocked George Smitherman in the previous election (also 36%) which was still a higher percentage than Thug. None of these names are considered great political hope or got the positive spin as Doug has. Let's not even begin to mention Ford with the likes of Miller, Lastman and Eggleton who all went into easy victories in the second term.

So because Doug got 34% he's the great conservative hope? Did everybody forget that Tory got 38% in 2003 and it didn't translate to any more conservative votes. The Ford's have always been populist who scam antics will not really play province wide. How will they bash the LRT when cities like Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener would love to have one, would he call all those towns "second class" because of it? Another thing is that he's horrible at playing with others, which is huge in party politics. Look how quickly he threw his budget chief Del Grande and deputy mayor Kelly under the bus to save his ass and make himself look good.

Which of course brings me to Wormington bizarre claim of wanting Tory to have Ford as "a" deputy Mayor. Riiiiigh after what Ford did to people in his administration when things get rough, nobody trusts him.

Or how about the fact that the 394,000 votes John Tory received are the second-highest vote total for an elected official in Canadian history, at any level of government (excluding non-binding Senate nomination votes). Only Mel Lastman in 2000 received more.

 

[JWBF]

Sorry to hear that, lizangel. I appreciate your contributions.


WTF, all of you? This person came here to share info and people here attack her for no reason? No wonder we have no new information here for a year, unless Jimmi T tells something or I see something while out for a drive. Or the user who found Karla's family history info. How about actually doing something yourself instead of spinning off silly theories and attacking other people?

WTF? That was my grandfather.

 

[LordWanker]

This is why I think Mikey will fall on his face. This is not an entry level position. You need to have some knowledge of the intricacies of the system, in order to actually be able to assist people.

I foresee stories of angry and frustrated parents. He is not dealing with constituents who want a pothole filled. They are going to bat for their children, and those can be some of the most challenging people to deal with competently. Parent's don't go to the trustee with the easy cases. They generally won't care if Mutey is nicer than his uncles or not. Hell hath no fury like a mother scorned.

God, I can't imagine having been in that position at twenty, and I got above average marks in high school and university.

Ward 2 voters chose Mike over a more qualified candidate so they have no one to blame but themselves.

 

[casita]

"Also, asked if he'd consider running for office himself, Randy Ford told @EnviroPunk that he wouldn't rule it out."
https://twitter.com/Grumpy_Jake/status/526942594756923392

I wonder if Randy will ever throw his cowboy hat in the ring?

 

[JWBF]

Are the Fords again benefiting from "lowered standards" in making them look good. An incumbent (which Ford was) getting 34% is a record low (I went back to the 70s to look) Everybody was giving such a low bar for the Fords predicting low 20s even though polls showed they were going to be around 30% and now the spin is saying "wow look how impressive Doug is" Incumbents have a HUGE advantage (look at council), especially first year mayors for him ending up in the mid 30s is not impressive. It reminds me of when Ford approval was 40% and the spin was "He's holding steady" yeah he's steady bad or Rob able to get through a press conference without making a total fool of himself. The bar is so low.

Let's put Doug 34% in perspective. That number is LOWER than recent one-and-done Barbara Hall losing to Lastman in the new amalgamated city and even lower than the totally forgettable June Rowlands (36%) Most have mocked George Smitherman in the previous election (also 36%) which was still a higher percentage than Thug. None of these names are considered great political hope or got the positive spin as Doug has. Let's not even begin to mention Ford with the likes of Miller, Lastman and Eggleton who all went into easy victories in the second term.

So because Doug got 34% he's the great conservative hope? Did everybody forget that Tory got 38% in 2003 and it didn't translate to any more conservative votes. The Ford's have always been populist who scam antics will not really play province wide. How will they bash the LRT when cities like Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener would love to have one, would he call all those towns "second class" because of it? Another thing is that he's horrible at playing with others, which is huge in party politics. Look how quickly he threw his budget chief Del Grande and deputy mayor Kelly under the bus to save his ass and make himself look good.

Which of course brings me to Wormington bizarre claim of wanting Tory to have Ford as "a" deputy Mayor. Riiiiigh after what Ford did to people in his administration when things get rough, nobody trusts him.

Nicely put.

 

[fishie]

Ward 2 voters chose Mike over a more qualified candidate so they have no one to blame but themselves.

I wonder how many in Ward 2 drank the whole gallon of Kool-Aid and voted the Ford trifecta. I also wonder how many did not, and if not which one was left off or which was their sole Ford vote?

 

[JWBF]

"Also, asked if he'd consider running for office himself, Randy Ford told @EnviroPunk that he wouldn't rule it out."
https://twitter.com/Grumpy_Jake/status/526942594756923392

I wonder if Randy will ever throw his cowboy hat in the ring?

That would be interesting. But who would run Deco Toronto?