Reading through the Rob Ford family chronicles, I was willing to give the guy a pass. After all, who among us hasn’t smoked a little crack with Somali drug dealers, had a sister shot in the face by a drug dealer who also threatened to murder other family members, and had a brother who was the kingpin hash dealer in the neighborhood. But I can’t abide a fucking hypocrite:
In 1998, he teamed with his father and Toronto police for an unorthodox project, he later told The Etobicoke Guardian. In what would be the start of his unwavering tough-on-crime platform, he – at the time, 29 and unelected – and Doug Sr. – a backbencher at Queen’s Park – travelled to Scarlettwood Courts, an Etobicoke public-housing complex, to rid it of illegal drugs.
“When people would drive through to buy drugs, we’d send the owner of the car a letter. It would tell them not come back to the area,” Mr. Ford told the Guardian after he was elected to City Council in 2000. He said his crime-fighting campaign had helped him win the election and promised to take the battle to other low-income neighbourhoods.
But his personal war on drugs was short-lived. The year after their letter-writing campaign, he was arrested in Florida after being pulled over for impaired driving. Police also found a joint in his pocket – an offence not revealed until his 2010 mayoral campaign.
Apparently, Rob Ford is to the war on drugs as Lindsay Graham is to gay marriage and David Vitter is to prostitution.
WereBear
He seems to have the thug mentality. Con and scheme and do anything for a buck, in other words.
Villago Delenda Est
Hey, whatever it takes to gull the rubes, man.
Anya
You should’ve listened to Doug Ford’s interview where he basically said: journalists use drugs, I smoked a joint when I was young, so what? I hate drugs.. never touched the stuff in my life. Toronto social elites are afraid of us and are attacking us. As well as talking about all the good the Ford family did for the community. He sounds such a whiner but at least he faced the media unlike his brother.
ALurkerHere
hypocrisy or gettting rid of the competition??
Anya
The voting right of those who voted for them should be revoked. Why do people vote for egocentric loudmouth morons?
Roger Moore
@ALurkerHere:
Yup. He just wanted all the drugs for himself.
Just One More Canuck
@Anya: Doug’s presser had a “I know you are but what am I” feel to it.
Why do people vote for egocentric, loudmouth morons? In Toronto’s case, his opponent was also egocentric and loudmouthed. Smitherman (Ford’s opponent for mayor) may or may not be a moron, but he is a self-centered entitled jerk
Villago Delenda Est
Reading through the Globe and Mail story, the Ford family strikes me as a bunch of entitled assholes behaving like entitled assholes.
gene108
Canadian drug lords in the highest levels of their government? Time to give Canuckistan the old Manuel Noriega treatment, ’cause I feel like my life style’s goin’ to be threatened by a bunch ‘o maple syrup eatin’ drug dealing socialists.
Keith
@ALurkerHere: My thoughts exactly
fubar
See when it starts
To fall apart
Man, it really falls apart
Like boots or hearts
Oh when they start
They really fall apart
Baud
@Anya:
Nice guys finish last. /confessions of a nice guy
piratedan
he was saving our kids from drugs by doing them all himself, so really he’s just a politically active self sacrificing sort, y’see?
Anya
@Baud: ha!
@Just One More Canuck: I guess he would lhave been less embarrassment.
Corner Stone
@piratedan: All responsible citizens will join Mayor Ford in his anti-drug enforcement policy and do a line or two in an effort to wipe these harmful drugs off the city streets!
Jay C
Ford family assholishness and/or hypocrisy aside, I found the most interesting bit of the article to be what, North Of The Border, qualifies as a campaign to rid a public-housing project of drug-dealing:
Writing letters?? O Canada!! Still, it’s nice to know there’s some place where an anti-drug campaign doesn’t have to involve armored vehicles, bulletproof vests and assault weapons…
Corner Stone
Watching MHP. and just can’t believe any human being could vote to cut SNAP at this point of our economy.
JDM
When I moved to Toronto for a while back when, I saw a sign for Etobicoke and, not knowing it was pronounced ee-TOW-beh-co, pronounced it Etty-buy-coke.
Sounds like the Ford family siblings used my pronunciation too.
JDM
When I moved to Toronto for a while back when, I saw a sign for Etobicoke and, not knowing it was pronounced ee-TOW-beh-co, pronounced it Etty-buy-coke.
Sounds like the Ford family siblings used my pronunciation too.
Baud
@Jay C:
They were sternly worded letters.
Mr Stagger Lee
You Tube seems to the Best Of Rob Ford stuff, this guy could be a Louie Grohmert or Joe Walsh. My favorite one is where he goes after a reporter who he thought was called a fat fuck by the guy.
LittlePig
@gene108: We must take care of them now…for the pancakes.
maya
This is why we need to invade Canada. Immediately! All that bonus black tar sands will pay for the invasion.
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
It’s Arrested Development day!
Comrade Mary
@Mr Stagger Lee: To be fair, when I looked at that video a couple of times, it looked as if the reporter mouthed but didn’t say “fat fuck”.
Josie
@Corner Stone: Whenever people talk about welfare cheats – people getting food assistance and driving big cars, etc. – I always ask them if they think that is a good reason to take food out of the mouths of children. Even if the adults are not being honest (and I think that is rare), the children don’t deserve to be punished for it. I don’t think there is a better use of taxpayer money than food and medical care for our little ones. I seldom talk to anyone who is willing to argue over that point.
Todd
@Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):
First 10 minutes are a little uneven. It’s improving, though.
rachel
A friend of mine familiar with Toronto (his brother is a cop there) gave me a bit of history of the situation. To sum up: Ford is an abrasive dick with anger issues and a lot of enemies. My friend wouldn’t be at all surprised if Ford had been framed, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the allegations turn out to be true.
Anya
@rachel: Framed? Ha!
Anya
I just noticed that in the email box my email is incorrect. I hope the redesign did not give me someone’s email. Should I correct it or would I get in trouble if I touched it?
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
@Anya: Nobody uses your e-mail on here, and it’s not seen, so okay to leave it be, unless you want it to be correct in case you go General Stuck and people would have a way to try to get you to respond.
Corner Stone
@rachel: I have a good friend in Toronto and when I asked him about it he said he had a friend on the inside and that it all wasn’t true.
I don’t exactly believe that but it certainly is making the rounds.
Anya
@Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS): No, that’s fine. I don’t think anyone will notice if I disappear.
Speaking for General Stuck, any updates?
maya
When I first saw the name Rob Ford I thought it was referring to this guy.
lojasmo
@Anya:
No updates on stuck. His blog is stagnant.
wenchacha
For such a long time, we joked about “Toronto The Good,” in my house. My husband made tech rep visits up that way, many years ago. And sure, the outer suburban areas were a little old-timey.
I know plenty has changed, but I thought Torontonians were more classy than to elect a guy who would be better off in a van down by the river.
Anya
@lojasmo: Thanks! I hope he’s sitting by the ocean and enjoy a tequila and some good Mexican food.
Bitter and Deluded Lurker
@Corner Stone: I’m in Toronto. I’m sure we don’t have the whole story, but I strongly suspect the general outlines are correct. I’m sure the Globe & Mail has been very careful about their story on the Fords, largely because Canadian libel laws are more stringent than their American equivalents. They certainly sat on it long enough.
Rob Ford himself almost certainly has substance abuse problems of one kind or another. The police have been out to his house multiple times for domestic violence calls, he’s had several incidents where he appears to have been drunk in public (including one where he allegedly grabbed the ass of former mayoral opponent Sarah Thompson) and it’s been reported that he fired his chief of staff in the middle of the current crack scandal for telling him he needed to go to rehab.
At this point the only thing that would surprise me is if he does something constructive.
Bitter and Deluded Lurker
@wenchacha: Toronto amalgamated with its inner suburbs in 1998. As a result, suburban candidates have an easier time winning city-wide elections than downtown candidates. His chief opponent in the previous election was also a terrible candidate with baggage of his own (he reminded me of Rahm).
Anya
@Bitter and Deluded Lurker: If Doug Ford was not a drug dealer as a youth, he would have filed a law suit against the Globe.
gene108
@maya:
Also, too for their sacking and burning of the White House in 1812. Never forgive, never forget.
rikyrah
one of the best openings to a post ever.
drkrick
@gene108: Of course, we’d sacked and burned their capital first. Which is where never forgive, never forget tends to take you.
Bitter and Deluded Lurker
@Anya: I don’t know, I could see the Fords filing a lawsuit anyway. They might be able to pay off or intimidate enough witnesses to win the case.
I don’t think it would be a good idea, but that has no bearing on whether or not they’d try it.
Ian
Nice Tragically Hip reference. Never got it’s meaning, but it just seems to work for Ford, or if Jonah Goldberg ever gets caught with drugs.
mawado
Maybe it’s just the three day weekend kicking in, but damn if this doesn’t remind me of Pinkard & Bowden’s “Elvis was a Narc”
Mawado
NickT
Of course, the best of the Ford brothers was Nathan Ford:
http://leverage.wikia.com/wiki/Nathan_Ford?file=Leverage_19_313x470.jpg
Montysano
@rikyrah:
QFT
Narcissus
Tragically hip, really dude
eric nny
Mistermix,
I love you most for The Tragically Hip post titles.