Canadian Broadcast Standards Council Rules Against Rob and Doug Ford

From when they had David "The Menzoid" Menzies from Sun TV On:

Menzies went on to talk about coverage Mayor Ford has received in the Toronto Star newspaper.  He made the following statement, referring to the 2010 campaign for mayorship of the City of Toronto:

I remember an incident that happened in the campaign, which I think speaks so much of the double standard and the kind of personal brutality you have gone through.  I remember, I believe it was a retired doctor, at one of the all-candidates meetings, who got up and he said words to the effect, Mayor, “Well, you know, I’m lookin’ at you and you’re obviously very overweight and I see sweat patches under your arms and your face is red and beads of perspiration.  How do we know that, when you get the stressful mayor, er, stressful job of being the mayor of Toronto this won’t, you know, stress you out to such a degree you’ll have a heart attack?”  Right?  You know, so, the idea, yeah, see, folks?  He, he, he’s too chubby a guy.  We’re doin’ this for his own health, to keep him away, you know, from, from dying while he’s in office.  Could you imagine, Mayor Ford and Councillor Ford, could you imagine if I was at that all-candidates meeting and I went to George Smitherman.  And I said “You know what?  You know, George, being a practising homosexual and being the fact that you’ve been involved with all kinds of illicit drug use, how do we know you won’t engage in high-risk sex and drug use that will bring about, uh, HIV leading to AIDS and you’ll die in office?”  I would be run out of town on a rail, right?!  You know, oh no, we can’t say that!  But you know what?  The mayor, fat guy?  Let’s heap it on.  Let’s bully this guy to death.  And it is despicable and it speaks of the double standard with the left-wing media in this city, Mayor Ford.

Doug Ford responded by saying that he and his brother have been complimented for standing up to the Toronto Star and Menzies made negative comments about other city councillors who he said were “hostile” toward Mayor Ford.  Mayor Ford’s response was “David, that’s, uh, phenomenal.”

You can hear the tape of that show here.  I should say that I'm not a big George Smitherman fan; in fact, I'm a big non-fan of George Smitherman.  But David Menzies is a 0 class boob and in this case the Fords were his enablers.

Smitherman Kicks Ass

My wife had the radio playing last night while I read in the bath, so I listened to most of the T.O. mayoral debate. And I have to say that furious George came off looking pretty good. Pantalone tried to zing him with the E-Health scandal, and Smitherman turned it into an advert to the "11 Billion" (I think that's the number) he had helped bring to Toronto as a Minister in the McGuinty gov. In contrast, Ford came off looking small-time, with his talk about the kids at Jane/Finch being athletes like him, and how he coached football, and something about gangs, and etc. etc. Rocco Rossi's answers were erudite, but I came to the part in my book about the Glyptodon skulls found in association with men and kept losing the thread of his response. In any case, he seems a bit virginal, politically, and I wonder if he shouldn't have run for a council seat first and got a taste of city politics before aiming at the big job. Whereas George projects as a big gay he-male.

Nicholls Makes No Sense

Gerry Nicholls writes of the newspaper coverage of the T.O. mayor's race:

Writes the [Toronto] Sun: “Either Rob Ford or George Smitherman, it appears, will be our next mayor and neither has a fiscal plan worth warm spit.”

And I guess, if an election was akin to some sort of academic exercise the Sun would be right.

However, elections are about politics. And in politics the last thing you want to do is talk about details.

The more details you divulge the more likely you are to drive away potential voters.

Well, Nicholls knows more about politics than I do, but I think he's wrong. Higher up the political food chain--federally and provincially--there is certainly a greater tendency towards vague platitudes, whether you think this is a healthy thing or not. But the municipal level is where the rubber hits the road; if you have a transit plan, then its pretty easy to find out if the numbers add up or not. There are no lower levels of government on which to dump the monetary burden, and fewer thimbles to hide the pea underneath.

One problem, though, is just as The Sun notes: the fiscal plans of all the major T.O. candidates are obviously inadequate. And you can expand this observation to their transit plans as well. Rocco Rossi--who I am still inclined towards--says he will bury the Allen Expressway. Yeah. Sure he will...if a gazillion $s land in his lap. Rob Ford says he'll close the TTC subway loop. Sure he will...if a gazillion $s land in his lap. The only candidate making sense is Joe Pantalone, who's basically holding to the transit city/metrolinx deal already negotiated with the province. And, for me, he's not really a voting option: at this point, the city doesn't need more Miller-lite (or, perhaps, Miller-short). So, there's a dilemma. I can't argue against a Rob Ford candidacy by appealing to the policy platforms of the other contenders; they're all crap.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't trade what has been a fairly high level of media engagement and analysis during this race for the depressing slop currently on offer at the federal level. I'd even go so far as to commend The Sun for the fact while, they are clearly in Ford's corner, they haven't been afraid to rake him over the coals once or twice.

Who Paid For It?

This poll, that puts Toronto Mayoral candidate Rob Ford way ahead of the competition? Pollstra, the company that did the work, operates out of the second floor of a Hamilton strip plaza that also houses a UPS store and a no frills; they're pretty obscure in other words, although past clients include Gerard Kennedy and Frank Valeriote (actually, these were clients of their "sister company", Prime Contact, which shares a phone number and office).

Some speculation Smitherman might have commissioned it, to scare a few center/leftish votes his way. He sure won't win 'em with charm. Even his friends don't like him.

Quicky Update: More on Prime Contact here: essentially, it's a company that sells campaign services.

And another: Whoopsie! Global story now says Hamilton address is just for a post office box.

The OTHER Toronto Mayor's Poll

You may have read, and possibly been appalled, by this poll from NANOS. This one, on the other hand, which also came out today, hasn't received nearly as much media attention (who the heck is Forum Research?), but it seems less obviously an indication of the coming of the end-times:

Smitherman - 29%
Ford - 26%
Thompson - 14%
Pantalone - 12%
Rossi - 10%
Mammoliti - 4%
Someone else - 2%

And the most interesting bit--look what happens when you put John Tory's name into play:

Tory - 38%
Smitherman - 19%
Thompson - 14%
Ford - 13%
Pantalone - 10%
Rossi - 4%
Mammoliti - 2%


One can still dream, I suppose.

The problem with Ford is less the ideological bluster than personality. Not even the right wing of council particularly likes him, and City staff think he's an ogre. If he gets in look forward to another garbage strike, gridlock on council, and much bellowing about how "The Left" won't let him get stuff done.

T.O. Mayor Race Battle Of Baldys?

No way. Jah would never give the power to a bald head. This guy's my man, if he runs. Because its a pity to waste a good politician, and anyway it'd be good to have him tied up when the PCPO decide they want him back.

And who the hell is Rocco Rossi?