Yesterday afternoon, after news had broken about two more resignations in his office, Crack Aficionado Magazine cover boy Rob Ford spoke to the press for a couple of minutes. Ford said that “everything’s going fine”, but every time he was asked about his crack issues, he responded “next question”. He made the claim that he’s saved Toronto “a billion dollars” (which is bullshit) and that he “can’t wait” to get on the campaign trail. The video at the first link cuts off before the live feed I was watching ended, so we miss one of the reporters muttering “thanks, maggots”, a reference to Doug and Rob’s radio appearance where Rob called the media a “bunch of maggots”.
Today, the Star is reporting that the killing of one of the crack dealers who appeared in the crack smoking video with Ford was a “street level thing”.
After yesterday’s news conference, reporters tweeted that Doug Ford, Rob’s older brother and family consigliere, was claiming that the mayor’s office had “hundreds of resumes” to replace departing staff members. While Doug isn’t so good with the numbers (he’s the source of the “billion dollar savings” claim), I’m sure there are plenty of former Etobicoke hash dealing buddies of the Fords who will fill vacancies. They’ve already hired one, David Price, as “director of logistics”. He’s being paid more than veteran staffers at the Mayor’s office, and Doug Ford’s comment on his qualifications was “you can’t teach loyalty”.
Without a tie between Ford and the shootings of his video buddies, this thing seems to be heading to a stonewalling stalemate between Ford and the media. Even if Gawker buys and posts the video, it’s already a pretty much established fact that it exists, so that won’t add much more pressure to the situation. Ford will be radioactive, so he won’t be going to may ribbon cuttings or addressing too many Rotary meetings, but he can still attend to his official duties. I doubt he’ll be having many more press conferences, but I don’t see how Toronto will be rid of him anytime soon.
Napoleon
I love this story.
Cassidy
I’d rather shower in prison than hear any more about this story.
Suffern ACE
@Cassidy: you still pick your scabs, don’t you.
Suffern ACE
I’m going to guess that Ford will be reelected. The video is probably important. Ford’s brand of populism kind of demands it.
Scott S.
I doubt he’ll be having many more press conferences, but I don’t see how Toronto will be rid of him anytime soon.
There’s always arresting him and putting him in jail…
Cassidy
@Suffern ACE: I’d rather shower in prison than pick a scab.
Jon Rockoford
A reporter for a Canadian newspaper stated on “All In” last night that Ford’s approval ratings have not really suffered. Apparently the “common man” identifies with him and they won’t let go of him as their hero.
That’s what’s absolutely mystifying. I thought Canadians were a wee bit more reasonable than we are. I don’t get it. Any Canadians to explain to us what the hell is going on?
NonyNony
@Jon Rockoford:
Explain to me why, exactly, if you were already a Rob Ford supporter what the rational reason for changing that support would be based on the fact that he smoked some crack and thought it was none of the media’s business whether he smoked it or not.
I honestly don’t understand why people think crap like this would hurt a politician. Representative government is all about picking the guy who is going to best serve your needs – it isn’t about picking the guy who isn’t a hypocrite, or picking the guy who is the nicest, or anything else like that.
If Ford’s supporters like the job he’s doing, the fact that he was caught out smoking crack won’t suddenly make them think he’s doing a shitty job. They might be disappointed in him as a man, but who cares? If they support the policies he’s put in place, why wouldn’t they continue to approve?
This is the exact fallacy that our media was confounded by during the Clinton Scandal Days of yore. Clinton gets caught out doing something illegal – lying to a court – and nobody outside of DC cared. People who thought Clinton was doing a good job continued to think Clinton was doing a good job. Because nobody voted for him to stay loyal to his wife – they voted for him to make the economy better by the magic powers that Presidents have to make economies better. And since the economy was getting better, people thought he was doing a great job and didn’t care about him lying to the court.
See also – Marion Berry, David Vitter, and just about any other politician with high approval ratings among his voters who chooses to bully through these kinds of things instead of resigning. Hell they sent Berry to jail and his voters put him back in the mayor’s office at the first opportunity they had to do so because they thought he’d done a better job than the yahoo who came after him.
aimai
I don’t understand, because I suppose I’m not paying enough attention, how the video has “gone missing” when lots of reporters viewed it–hell I htink Iviewed it at one point on these here internets.
Just One More Canuck
The video needs to come out. There’s a substantial number of people who think the Star made this story up because of a supposed vendetta the paper has against Ford. The only way to convince them (and not all of them will be convinced – they’ll say it was faked) is to have it plastered all over every tv screen in the city
WereBear
@Jon Rockoford: I see it as an example of Blind Loyalty Syndrome. Most people are essentially in the grip of entropy, and it takes a lot to move them.
Like you walk into a shower room and see a beloved coach raping a ten year old. You’ve spent most of your life in this institution, working and worshipping there… you are going to disbelieve your lying eyes.
Look how many of the abused children in the Catholic priest pedophile scandals told the truth… and were not believed.
Obviously, the citizens of Toronto don’t want to believe they voted in this crack-smoking, murderous thug. And for at least 2/3’s of the population, what they want is going to trump reality for a good long while.
Napoleon
@aimai:
You could not have viewed it on the internet since it has never been released. My understanding is the people who have it have shopped it for a price to the press. As part of said shopping they have allowed reporters to view a showing of it so that they know what they are buying.
Rex Everything
Seriously, does ANYONE give a rat’s ass about this Rob Ford shit?
Quincy
He’s a cross between Rush Limbaugh and Jesse from Breaking Bad (season 1 Jesse, not the later slightly more mature version) and people want him to run their city. Why do I bother caring about politics? If we’re not all fucked its only dumb luck keeping it that way.
PIGL
In the case of the 905 – belt who voted Ford in, and voted Mike Harris in as Premier of Ontario, and voted (with Alberta, which look no further) Stephen Harper in as Prime Minister…the common element in all cases is they voted for a bullying asshole because he is an asshole and a bully, and the bigger of an asshole he is, the better they like him. The dead girl and live boy scenario would not even touch them, because, hey, who hasn’t dreamed of getting a little snuff on along with the buggery, amiright? Boys will be boys.
It’s not really the entire 905 belt (read exurbs) that voted for Ford….just our equivalent of your 27% plus 10 or 15% that can be swayed by policy propaganda one way or the other….that 35-45% is sufficient to gain majority governments or to win low-turn-out elections. The big change in Canadian politics over the past generation is that, until recently, no organised Party would have that 27% or give them voice, because we all had to much class. The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, followed by the Alberta-based Reform Party, and finally the Harper Conservatives hacked the political system in Canada (a term due to some other b-j commenter), realising, based on America’s fine example, that those 27% authoritarian pricks were a reliable key to political power.
The departure of reasonableness, respect for Parliamentary tradition and any trace of forbearance from our politics has been the inevitable and disastrous result. As long as the 0.1% are not disinherited, and the 27% are allowed to vote, none of has any hope of a better outcome. The cat is out of the bag.
Just One More Canuck
I’m not sure what you mean by the 905 belt – Toronto is all area code 416. 905 is all of the surrounding suburbs (Mississauga, Markham, etc). If you mean the people closer to the borders of Toronto and the suburbs (Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough), that’s probably the base of Ford’s popularity
Svensker
@Rex Everything:
Well, a few million folks in Toronto and surrounding areas do. And Josh Marshall.
PIGL
@Just One More Canuck: Is all GTA 416? Then I was confused about that. I admit I carelessly used the 905 to distinguish former Metro from GTA.
Interrobang
@PIGL: I haven’t been so depressed about Canadian politics since Mike Harris got in the second time. How do we fix this? It’s not fair that 35% of the population (the authoritarian nutters plus the shit-for-brains swing voters) get to drive us down the porcelain expressway like that, but I really don’t see a way out currently.
Just One More Canuck
@PIGL: The City of Toronto (former Metro) is all 416, but all of the surrounding areas is 905 (the rest of the GTA
Rex Everything
@Svensker: Oh yeah, I forgot Mistermix is upstate somewhere.
Hey Mistermix, you need to remember that the northwestern part of NY State & environs is not the center of the universe. (The center of the universe is of course down here in southeastern part.)
John
@NonyNony:
You don’t think it would be reasonable or likely for Ford supporters to turn on their super tough on crime mayor because he hangs out with Somali drug dealers and smokes crack?
NonyNony
@Rex Everything:
I am. I’m always interested in political scandal reporting from other countries to compare it to how scandals get covered in our own media. I suspect that mistermix is interested as well, since he’s, you know, posting links and providing comment on them. Like you would do with a blog where you’re interested on a topic.
Plus Rob Ford is a giant ass whose career I’ve been following for years because I like to know what’s going on with our neighbors to the North (I keep track of Mexican politics for the same reason).
But if you aren’t interested you can just, you know, ignore the post. You don’t actually have to read every story that people post here. I, for example, ignore most of Cole’s “What’s the matter with you people” posts.
Splitting Image
@John:
The scandal is that he is accused of smoking crack rather than snorting powdered cocaine.
PaulW
Dear Canada:
You’re losing your cred as the “saner” member of the North America Club. At this rate Jamaica is going to take the title from you. Whadda ya going to do next, make Ford your Prime Minister?! Waiting for him to tear off that Mission Impossible mask to reveal he’s been Dubya the whole time?! Seriously, guys, if you can’t arrest him at least pack him up and ship him down to Louisiana where he’ll fit right in next to Vitter…
NonyNony
@John:
No, not really. They don’t care what he does in his personal life – they care about whether or not he’s getting results. And the results don’t even need to be real – people just have to feel like they’re getting results.
So the question is – if they voted for him to be a tough on crime mayor, do they feel like he’s actually improved Toronto and cut down on the crime there? If they felt that he was doing that before being caught out on this, why would that opinion change after it? Remember – we’re talking job approval here, not “do you approve of the mayor as a human being” – it would actually be irrational to change your opinion on that just based on him smoking crack in his personal life.
An example I thought of later after I posted makes this point – Ronald Reagan was involved in selling arms to Iran in contravention of not just US law preventing us from selling arms to an “enemy”, but also in contravention of his own history of tough talk about Iran. Minimal hit on his approval rating despite the fact that this is, much like the crack smoking with known criminals, something you would think his core supporters cared about. And hell it’s WORSE than the crack smoking because it was 1) not something that can be written off as something in his “personal life” and 2) arguably treasonous as hell. His approval with Republican voters moved not a whit. Why? Because he was still doing the job that they elected him to do – which is to be a conservative President and fix the economy with his magic Presidential economy fixing powers.
(And I would argue that Ford was not elected to be “tough on crime”. My read is that Ford was elected to be a conservative mayor and fix the economy of Toronto and the crime rate of Toronto with his “magical Mayor economy and crime fixing powers”. If Conservative voters in Toronto think he’s succeeding at that, why would him getting caught smoking crack change that at all?)
John
@Splitting Image:
Well, yes, and also with Somali drug dealers. But that really does seem like something that might convince conservatives to stop supporting him, doesn’t it?
John
@NonyNony:
I’d generally think that many of the people who voted for him are racists or crypto-racists who wouldn’t take kindly to a mayor who hangs out with Somali drug dealers. But maybe that’s just me.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@PIGL:
So basically Canada’s pretty much locked into the same inexorable rightward tilt, in practice, that we are?
The Moar You Know
@NonyNony: That was a seriously excellent and thoughtful post.
Comrade Mary
@PIGL: Sorry, but NOBODY in the 905 area voted for Ford. Etobicoke, York, East York, North York and Scarborough were all part of what was known as Metropolitan Toronto (not the GTA / Greater Toronto Area, which includes truly independent municipalities like Mississauga). In 1998, the province made all of Metro into one city. Instead of the city of Toronto and 5 boroughs having their own mayors and councils, their own garbage collection, etc., while also having a Metro layer of government that dealt with public transit and other shared items, we now had one mayor and one council.
In addition, these “inner suburbs” (the former boroughs), are not largely composed of rich people in McMansions. Much of the area is working class, and middle-middle class, in addition to some richer areas. Unlike many American cities, our core tends to be richer — more “elite” — and the fringes poorer.
(Our neighbourhoods can be more mixed. I’ve lived downtown and in all the boroughs except for North York, and my neighbourhoods were usually working to middle class, with a very plush elements such as a consulate or two showing up.)
The Ford vote is very much composed of poorer people (of all races), lots of immigrants (of all races), lots of working class native born Toronto (of all races), as well as smug home-owners (of all races). There’s some resentment of the crappy state of the former boroughs and some (unwarranted) expectation that Ford could make things better.
Ford is no Clinton, but he was, by all accounts, one hell of a dedicated counsellor for years. He really did answer every call and try to right every wrong, and his constituents still fucking love him. This approach sucks for a mayor, but a lot of people still admire it.
In short: Ford matters because you get people like me in here to tell you why your American assumptions about how things work in other places can be very inaccurate.
Comrade Mary
(Sorry, PIGL: didn’t mean to pile on. I can see others corrected the 905 thing. My remarks otherwise are more general.)
PIGL
@Interrobang: I don’t know. I try not to be as dispirited in person as I act in my postings, but after the BC NPD’s performance in the last election…well there you go. I simply can’t support that party anymore. They are clearly not serious about winning elections, and actively campaigned against proportional representation when the chance came up recently. It remains to be seen if the federal NDP is more interested in governance than their internal politics, but I am not optimistic. Canada’s only hope is to smash the Reform/Tory coalition once and for all, and that may require a Liberal NDP coalition. They had their chance for that at the end of 2008, and fucked up royally, because they more concerned with their positions relative to reach other than to actually forming a government and determining policy.
If Reform could be thwarted, well, Alberta would have another 30 year hissy fit; then the oil would run out, or the international energy situation would change, and they could go back to farming turnips in a dustbowl. I am Albertan born and bread, and I hate them a fiery passion….they, or their energy sector, is the source of most of our political problems…the prize that has funded a 30 year conspiracy to subvert the realm.
NonyNony
@John:
Ah now see that’s a different argument. And if that’s actually the case then it would possibly make a difference with the voters at a personal level, but again if his policies are perceived to be making life better for the right people and miserable for the “wrong” people, then they still might not give a shit who he buys his crack from.
PIGL
@Comrade Mary: I am not American, Mary. I am Canadian, and know Toronto fairly well, but clearly don’t have your detailed knowledge.
I used 905 as a crude surrogate. The City of Toronto would never have elected a Ford to mayor. It was only amalgamation that made that possible, and that I believe it was a political maneuver by the Harris government to neuter the power base of the socialist hordes, namely a major city government. I believe there is a connection between the Ford, Harris and Harper voters, although they are not identical, as you explain. Your Ford voter is more a Sun reader, would be my cartoon. I was in TO the day after the election, and I remember my feelings of shock and disgust at the Sun’s headlines: his first duties were to scrap the bike lanes, stop recycling, and some other bit of hippie punching I can’t recall. It is mysterious why blue collar resentment takes the form of union bashing, but it is UGLY, and pervasive. And it reflects elite priorities: see the editorial by that asshole Yakabuski in today’s G&M: “Sure Ford is a cretin, but his policies MUST BE PURSUED”.
Seanly
@Cassidy:
I think that John ought to put “I’d rather shower in prison than…” in as a rotating tag. He can forward all the angry emails to me. Well, maybe not that last one.
Mnemosyne
@Rex Everything:
B-J gets a fair number of Canadian commenters, so I’m assuming they’re interested in something going on in their own country.
I’m fascinated, but in a soap opera kind of way since I’m in the US.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@PIGL:
This is the same sense I get from a co-worker I have who used to live in Toronto, and apparently still follows the politics in the city. He’s the reason I even know about Ford and his Christie-esque ‘MASS TRANSIT IS DA DEBIL!’ policies.
Joel
@NonyNony: The supporters aren’t the issue. It’s the staff. Lose your people and that cuts into your ability to get things done.
SatanicPanic
@NonyNony: But you don’t think there’s an objective difference between a crack smoker and a philanderer? There’s a reason why people say “are you on crack?” and not “have you been sleeping with your secretary?”
Yatsuno
@Mnemosyne: It’s a native land fascination with me, but it also has to do with my father getting more and more Canada curious. He is the grandson of a Canadian citizen (and a Québecois) so he could do a return citizenship deal rather easily, unless that fucker Harper made it harder.
PIGL
This article is the nut of my position, much better articulated by a very qualified Toronto area resident. Rabble.ca is an excellent source on Canadian politics. See also The Tyee, which has more of a west coast focus.
Bitter and Deluded Lurker
Ford’s popularity hasn’t been hurt by the scandal, but he’s already shed a good chunk of the people who voted for him. Post-scandal polling shows him losing in a two-way race with Olivia Chow (56% to 36%) and in a three-way race with Chow and John Tory (42% Chow, 27% Ford, 24% Tory).
See that number in the three-way race for Rob Ford? His core voters are Canada’s 27%.
He could still win an election, if he can salvage his reputation somewhat, as long as two or more candidates split the vote. I suspect we’re going to see more shoes dropping every month or so, though.
Toronto also uses the 647 area code.
priscianus jr
@Rex Everything: Seriously, does ANYONE give a rat’s ass about this Rob Ford shit?
Truly, yes. A lot of people. Unless you’re alluding to the well-known fact that most Unitedstatesians don’t give a shit about anything that happens in Canada.
priscianus jr
@PIGL: The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, followed by the Alberta-based Reform Party, and finally the Harper Conservatives hacked the political system in Canada (a term due to some other b-j commenter), realising, based on America’s fine example, that those 27% authoritarian pricks were a reliable key to political power.
Well then, you can relax. Just wait another thirty, forty years and they won’t be the key to power any more. By that time they’ll be reduced to an unpopular remnant that can do no more than hold the federal government at a standstill.
priscianus jr
@Mnemosyne: B-J gets a fair number of Canadian commenters, so I’m assuming they’re interested in something going on in their own country.
I’m a Unitedstatesian myself but, believe it or not, I’m actually interested in at least some things that happen in other countries — even Canada!
priscianus jr
@Bitter and Deluded Lurker: Ford’s popularity hasn’t been hurt by the scandal, but he’s already shed a good chunk of the people who voted for him.
I find this sentence fascinating. I can think of at least four possible interpretations:
1. He’s shed a good chunk of the people who voted for him, but gained at least an equal number of new people who will vote for him next time.
2. His popularity has been hurt, but by other things, not the scandal.
3. He’s popular with a lot of people, but a lot of them won’t vote for him.
4. It doesn’t make sense.
So which is it?
CarolDuhart2
@priscianus jr: I guess #3 is the answer. Yes, they may like him like a failing movie star, and wouldn’t mind him paying a visit, but think he’s probably better off doing something else now and wouldn’t cry if he resigned to “take care of business”. They are the political equivalent of those folks who will greet you, but are never around if you need them.
If the opposition can unite around someone likeable and reasonably sane, Ford would lose next time around. These people voted for a city government, not a soap opera, so they will swing to someone more inclined to get something done without the soap opera.
Comrade Mary
@priscianus jr: What this means is that Ford was elected with 47% of the vote, within two years his popularity had declined a lot, and despite the scandal, he is maintaining that same diminished popularity.
People who like him, REALLY like him. And people’s empathy for the underdog has served him well and will continue to serve him well. Every single fucking public joke about his weight, about his rosacea, about him walking into cameras or falling on the football field does fuckALL to make people want to vote for someone else, and can actually get him sympathy from the mushy middle which a simplistic campaign message can turn into victory.