05.04.2012 08:24 AM

Mayor Moron vs. The World

The Star scribe at the centre of the latest Ford Family Fiasco has an interesting piece about his run-in with the fist-waving Chief Magistrate.  It’s worth a read.

What struck me is the reporter’s discomfort at being the story, as opposed to writing the story (cf. the very last line). To me, that’s a sign of a good journalist.  (It’s why I wasn’t a good one, by the by: I like Plimptonian, Lester Bang-ish first-person stuff.  I find it more fun to read and write. My web site, now in year 12 – and my journals, now in year 40 – are ample proof of that.)

Anyway, I digress, per usual.  Personally, I wonder if there is an explanation for all of this insanity continually surrounding famille Ford,  one that would almost make me feel sympathetic to the guy (almost).

Why anyone isn’t investigating it is a mystery.  But it’s a reasonable question to ask, based on past behaviour.

30 Comments

  1. The Ford’s will undoubtedly [and ultimately leading up to the next election] leverage all these personal attacks and character assassinations into a huge [and very winning] sympathy campaign. If Ford sticks closely to his 2010 agenda at the clam shell, and if he can keep his cocked-fists from actually punching another human being, then the personal vendettas from the likes of the Toronto Star and a few other city Councillors and journos, will inadvertently push Ford into the winners circle in 2014. He’s not who I’d vote for, put it’s what I see is unfolding, very quickly and very cleverly, and the Fords are masters at manipulating public sentiment – not so good with Council. But then, Council doesn’t elect [or re-elect] a Mayor. If the Toronto Star doesn’t want to see a re-boot of Ford Nation Round 2, then they better rethink their editorial approach on their favourite civic pinata.

    • Kevin says:

      I think you’re right. Here in Ottawa we had to put up with a 4-year train wreck, but turfed him when someone reasonable came along. Our guy was merely incompetent. Yours is incompetent AND offensive.

      • Steve Craig says:

        AND your guy apologized for being so bad, didn’t he?

      • James Bow says:

        Yup. Predicted it when Ford took office. He and Larry O’Brien are like peas in the pod and Ford is following O’Brien’s trajectory very closely.

        • Nurie Jahangeer says:

          @Ted Heighington

          I just love how every Ford supporter without fail, who confidentially predicts his winning a second term, all tend
          to be propertied, car owning, suburban, highly assimilated, unilingual, unhyphenated, Canadian born and bred, mangiacakes of WHITE ANGLO SAXON PROTESTANT origin such as yourself. It never fails to amazes me how people of your racial/ethno-cultural and socio-economic demographic assume that ALL Torontonians will dismiss
          Mayor Ford’s many racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, anti-immigrant and anti-refugee statements and actions.

          He referred to female 911 operators last year as “BITCHES”. He has put forth socio-economic policies which have been attacked by leading women’s groups and feminist organizations as “detrimental to the interests of women”. The City of Toronto is the most feminist and pro-choice place in this country. He has called for the City of Toronto to stop receiving “any more immigrants or refugees”. He has put forth socio-economic policies which have been attacked by leading immigrant and ethno-cultural groups as being “racist and anti-immigrant”.
          Perhaps you were not aware that the City of Toronto is over 50% non-White and close to 60% of us are foreign born immigrants. He has snubbed the Gay Pride Parade and is a well known homophobe. The City of Toronto is the most gay friendly place in Canada and the Toronto Pride Parade is one of two huge events for generating revenue. Back to women again, the cops have been called to Mayor Ford’s house several times SINCE he was elected in November 2010, to respond to domestic violence complaints.

          Sorry but its not only the votes of tax hating, suburban, propertied, car owning, WHITE MALES which are going to determine the outcome of the 2014 Toronto mayoral election. If you ignore or dismiss the potent electoral power of ethno-cultural voting patterns, Diaspora politics, immigrant group think, women’s politics, feminist politics, gay/lesbian politics, ect; you are sadly mistaken.

          The City of Toronto is no longer the English speaking, highly assimilated, unilingual, unhyphenated, Canadian born and bred, Circa 1950’s, “Leave it to Beaver/Father Knows Best”, suburban, block parents, Ward Clever wet dream of your childhood. Its also not only about property taxes, government spending, car owners and the likes and dislikes of home owners. The particular concerns of women, visible minorities, recent immigrants, renters, public transit users, low income earners and the poor WILL NOT BE IGNORED.

          Doug Holyday and Rob Ford increasingly DO NOT represent the face of multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-faith, multi-lingual, multi-cultural, diverse, cosmopolitan, globalized, interconnected City og Toronto.

          Now go back to your John Deere lawnmower, hot dogs, monthly newsletters from the Fraser Institute and Canadian Tax Payers Federation, block parent meetups, and all the other trappings of middle class WASP-dom (The most loyal voting block behind Mr Ford, Mr Hudak and Mr Harper)

        • Jason King says:

          And like clockwork Nurie posts her boilerplate rant. It sounds like you get a free lawnmower if you offend her. Good luck to all!

        • Jason King says:

          Car owning? Seriously?

          And there I thought having only one hyphenated identity wasnt enough.

    • Nurie Jahangeer says:

      @Ted Heighington (PART 2)

      CORRECT…the Ford are past masters at manipulating the public sentiment of a particular segment of Torontonians.
      Very, very, very few visible minorities, recent immigrants, aboriginals, renters or public transit users support the
      Ford Brothers. They specifically appeal to propertied, car owning, suburban, highly assimilated, unilingual, unhyphenated, Canadian born and bred, mangiacakes of WHITE ANGLO SAXON PROTESTANT origin; as well as a few Uncle Tom visible minorities.

      A hardcore of the Ford Brother’s base of support also tends to come from ignorant, common, uneducated, low class,
      slovenly dressed, uncouth, unrefined, tactless, poorly bred, redneck WHITE MALES who tend to be employed in a blue collar vocation. Most of them sport “Ford for Mayor” magnet bumper stickers on their pickup trucks right beside the NASCAR and WWE bumper magnets. I’ve mentioned on here before about how I attended two Rob Ford rallies during the summer of 2010. I was one of a handful of non-White people and ALL of the Whites there were males who looked unkempt, scruffy, dirty and blue collarish. I overheard many hushed racist and homophobic remarks at these two meet ups, and many of the men had little tough guy salt and pepper goatees with tattoos. All very trashy and disgusting indeed. The rooms also smelled of stale cigarette smoke and beer. The Ford Brother’s base of hardcore supporters look like truck drivers and
      outlaw motorcycle bikers.

      • Jason King says:

        I had to stop at the 11 racial stereotypes and insults.

        How do these tirades improve anything and contribute to the discussion other than proving Nurie’s critics correct that she just a bit racist?

      • Bill says:

        What is wrong with truck drivers? I know a few that make close to $100000 a year. They work long haul and put lots of miles on. Very hard working people.

        Are you a snobby racist and don’t know it?

      • Scott says:

        Wow.

        I’m not a regular reader here (a friend sent the link) but Nurie, who appears to be a regular here, seems to be not only just as racist as those she defames, but guilty of outrageous stereotyping to boot. Which is truly unfortunate as, with the notable exception of all the racist slurs, I had no problem with her stats or anecdotal evidence. Rob Ford is a tremendous prat and I can’t comprehend how he made office. Did everyone but his immediate family get voting day wrong? Did the other candidates all have syphilis?

        Whatever.

        What prompted me to reply was quite simply to recommend to Nurie that if she were to turn down the hateful hyperbole just a smidge she’d be a lot further ahead with her agenda. That is, if her agenda is to shed light on political wrongdoing et cetera and not just to spew bile on the segments of the population that she doesn’t seem to like to be around.

        And me?

        I am white (well, pinkish-prone-to-burning-white), I own a house equally with my wife, I own a car (if a 1994 Chevy Astro can still be considered a car), I live in an old suburb, I’ll admit I’m not sure what she means by ‘assimilated’, I speak only one language (although I can do accents quite well if properly lubricated), I’m not hyphenated (unless they’ve started hyphenating ‘landed immigrant’ when I wasn’t looking), I’m not Canadian born or bred (again, not quite sure what that means), I could google ‘mangiacake’ but I doubt it’s worth it, I suppose I’m a white anglo saxon protestant historically but our family really slid away from all that stuff back when they were all servants for the wealthy a couple hundred years ago, I can be quite ignorant when the mood strikes me (like now), I’m fairly common (I’ve met at least 4 people over the years with the same first and last name as me), I’m as edumacated as finances allowed at the time, I take offence to imbuing a ‘class’ on anyone so I won’t touch that one, I tend to dress for comfort (but I stopped wearing track pants in public by the time I left high school), I can be just as uncouth as I can be ignorant, ‘unrefined’ touches on the whole ‘class’ thing so that’s a pass, I am only tactless when the situation calls (or begs) for it, ‘breeding’ again is akin to ‘class’, if my neck is red it’s only because I forgot the sunscreen again but I do enjoy being outdoors, I am most certainly employed in a ‘blue collar’ profession (after all, not everyone aspires to become a swivel servant or an office jockey, especially if they have an affinity for machinery and creating things with their hands), I have owned several pickup trucks but I have never hung plastic testicles off the trailer hitch nor has any vehicle I’ve owned ever sported a bumper magnet (although I did once own a Skoda decked out with Grateful Dead stickers), ‘unkempt’ is something I can’t argue with (mostly because I’m not sure what it is to be ‘kempt’), My goatee is ‘salt & pepper’ (which I attribute to age and not any political or racial affiliations) but neither it nor the rest of me sports any tattoos or other body modifications, I most lawfully drive a motorcycle, I don’t really care who does what to whom as long as they’re all consenting adults and nobody’s rights are being abused, and finally, if I where to be found at a Rob Ford rally I would most certainly need to be very drunk indeed.

        But I can’t fault her on the reference to the Fords looking like truck drivers. Long haul hillbilly truck drivers who cheat on their log books maybe.

        Maybe I’m out of line but I don’t really care. The only reason I ever make any time for the occasional rant is when I encounter inequality and close minded behaviour.

        And Nurie, you’re it.

        • Philip says:

          Sadly, this poster is brand new, appearing shortly after his/her right wing counter part, Mr. Tulk, was banned from the site. It’s the exact same tired old screed every single time. Perhaps Mr. Tulk and Nurie share the same appetite for attention, either way they contribute almost nothing to the discussion.

          Ps. I am a mangiacake!

          • Scott says:

            Ok, for that I had to google ‘mangiacake’. What a surprise, another ethnic slur, albeit a pretty mild one. But man, hate is hate, doesn’t matter what colour says it.

            How old do you have to be to ride this ride again?

          • Philip says:

            My thoughts exactly. It’s all so tired and frankly boring.

  2. Joey Rapaport says:

    Mayor Ford is a proven winner… LOL

  3. Tim says:

    Bolivian marching powder would make sense of the madness we’re seeing. If someone were to put him on the beer and pot diet could he transform into a good mayor?

    • Nic Coivert says:

      An investigation into the source of Ford’s mania could lead to life threatening situations. If Ford is a user then it follows that he’s got some pretty unsavoury contacts that aren’t going to step aside nicely when a reporter shines the light on their million dollar business. Money like that is worth peoples lives, unfortunately. Maybe that is why nobody investigates it.

  4. JenS says:

    Honestly, I think the guy is mentally ill. He’s certainly shown all the signs of paranoia. He’s delusional as well — look at his reaction to council’s will on transit. He honestly thinks it doesn’t matter.

    Daniel Dale is an outstanding reporter who, in going to Ford’s hood unannounced with an uncharged cell phone might have made a somewhat boneheaded move. But the common denominator in all the antics surrounding Ford is Ford. I think we know where most of the problem is.

  5. Matt says:

    I don’t know… it seems maybe a different approach needs to be taken with this guy as well. There isn’t much worth in busting him coming out of a KFC with a bucket of chicken and then publishing it as news. It also undermines the legitimate crazy occurrences such as this one. Just keep confronting him with the facts in comparison to his ‘realities’ and we’d be all better off. It really shouldn’t be that hard as a well trained marmoset should be able to outwit the guy.

  6. George says:

    The Paper that employed Hemingway and Callaghan now emEmploys wee timorous beasties who run off like little girls into the night

  7. Reality.Bites says:

    Hemingway only faced bulls. This reporter was confronted by a considerably larger, worse-tempered and far less intelligent beast.

  8. George says:

    Whilst at the star reality bites he actually engaged in fisticuffs but that may be well before your time.

  9. Reality.Bites says:

    Whilst? Really?

    Whilst is completely unnecessary and archaic in British English. In North American English, it’s all that *and* pretentious douchebaggery,

  10. George says:

    Maybe I had an extra t I did not wish to eliminate? I shan’t apologize for using the English language nor shall I take umbrage with petty insults

  11. George says:

    Besides I would rather appear aloof than be a plagiarist eh Mr Hepburn?

  12. Willie F says:

    Politicians are public figures but there’s a difference between getting news information and stalking the man and his family, including his 78 year old mother. The Star’s behaviour has crossed the boundary of decent journalism, it has lost it’s integrity. If someone skulked around my property during the evening (or the day) I’d be chasing them off too. The reporter got what he deserved.

    • Philip says:

      Except the reporter in question wasn’t on Mayor Hindenburg’s property. He was on the adjacent lot. But you knew that already, didn’t you?

  13. george says:

    has civility died?are we now unable to discuss issues without cheap shots?do we really need to call people douchebags or fat?

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