Canada is Awesome

[Rommie]

Toronto Mayor admits crack cocaine use in last year, will stand for re-election

Thanks for making the laughs not focus on the US for awhile guys!

[Swift]

Yeah, but he was drunk at the time, so its OK.

[FZR1KG]

Politicians of late are spoiled little cry babies.
Back in the good ol days a politician that fucked up that bad would fall on their sword, commit ritual suicide of some manner.
That was deemed too violent so they then just committed political suicide, effectively resigning.
Now they just pretend its no big fucking deal and continue business as usual screwing the public they swore to represent over and over and over.

I personally can't wait for the cycle to return because they way these fuckwits act, they are headed to the pinnacle of arrogance in a fast way and then there is only one way to go. They will do it themselves or someone will do it for them.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Well, I have been complaining about Ford for years. It was lost with the old board, though. The man is and has always been unsuitable for the office of mayor. I voted against him.

On the other hand, the utter glee with which many people are reacting to this makes me sad. I don't like the man and I think his politics are repellant, but I'm made deeply uncomfortable by people delighting in another person's suffering. The mayor clearly has some deep personal and mental issues. I'd rather see people pushing for him to get help than see them point and laugh.

When he made his confession yesterday, I saw the same embarrassment, shame, and vulnerability in his expression that I felt when I first realized I had an anxiety issue. I guess that struck home with me--I really can empathize.

Now, I mean, the guy should still leave office. Obviously. But I don't see why that means that he shouldn't be treated as a human being.

[geonuc]

Being treated as a human being often means with utter contempt. But that's not what you meant, I know. I'll withhold my contempt until I see the results of the election, and depending on the results, my contempt may be directed at a wholly different target.

And in case anyone who has picked up on my views on the subject and wants to call me out as a hypocrite, I say that because I think Mayor Ford is a total jerk and unsuited for public office in ways unrelated to these allegations (and, apparently, admissions). Not because he enjoys recreational drug use.

[The Supreme Canuck]

I get what you're saying, but I've really got to save my contempt for Doug Ford, not Rob:

It’s been repeatedly reported in multiple media outlets that Doug has been the biggest obstacle to getting Rob to accept treatment for what many who know the mayor say is a serious substance-abuse problem. Doug has been the first to downplay incidents in which the mayor appears to be intoxicated. For instance, when reports of Rob being drunk in public first surfaced after the Garrison Ball, Doug claimed he had “never seen him take a drink.” Later, when Rob showed up drunk at the Taste of the Danforth, Doug dismissed it as a matter of Rob having “a couple pops” and a good time. This week, as Rob promised to curb his drinking (but not quit), Doug suggested that Rob keep his drinking “in the basement.”

Behind closed doors, Doug’s resistance to the idea that Rob seek professional help appears to have been even greater. In early 2012, it has been reported, the mayor’s staff had planned to stage an intervention. Doug allegedly called it off. This week, as many of the mayor’s senior staff and allies—and reportedly senior members of the Conservative party—privately asked the mayor to take a leave of absence and seek help, the Toronto Star reported that Doug encouraged his brother to ignore their pleas.

[Rommie]

Don't worry TSC, I am capable of having contempt for multiple people. I was probably more flippant in my earlier comment, but I still don't see how just because one person is enabling him in his cabinet then you can't find someone seriously unsuited for his position.

[The Supreme Canuck]

I didn't say that at all. And who says I don't find him seriously unsuited for his position? What I'm complaining about is those people who, because they don't like him politically, feel the need to take delight in the fact that Rob Ford has serious personal and mental problems. I'm not talking about you, by the way--I'm talking about people like those in the media at Tuesday's press conference who were literally breathless at the possibility that they'd be able to sink their teeth into the sordid details of the life of an addict who is only just realizing that his world is falling apart.

I can object to that while also criticizing the mayor's politics and behaviour. He has no place in public office; he's never had a place in public office. That's neither here nor there when it comes to his treatment as a person rather than as a public figure. They're separate issues.

As a public figure, Ford has got to go. He hasn't a single redeeming quality as a politician or leader. As a person... I can't bring myself to disdain someone just because he's an addict. His brother, on the other hand... well. I can disdain someone who prevents a member of his own family from seeking addiction treatment for political gain just fine.

Again, I'm not talking about you. I hope you didn't think that I was, though you seem like you might have. I assume that you're just not getting the same level of media saturation on this story that I am. A lot of what is being said is cruel. Indecent. Not okay.

I don't know, I don't feel like I'm being clear, here. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

[geonuc]

You're undoubtedly right about most of us not getting the media saturation, and I think we all well know how the media can get when in saturation mode.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Well, all that mushy-headedness on my part aside, this is probably relevant:

Did Rob Ford's approval ratings actually go up after Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair confirmed the existence of a video seeming to show the Toronto mayor smoking crack cocaine (which he admitted to yesterday)? The answer is: probably not.

Interesting read.

[The Supreme Canuck]

And the wheels come off it all, again:

A second video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking what has been described as crack-cocaine by a self-professed drug dealer was secretly filmed in his sister’s basement early Saturday morning.

The clip, which was viewed by two Globe and Mail reporters, shows Mr. Ford taking a drag from a long copper-coloured pipe, exhaling a cloud of smoke, his right arm convulsing. The footage is part of a package of three videos the dealer said was surreptitiously filmed around 1:15 a.m., and which he says he is now selling for “at least six figures.”

Mr. Ford declined to answer questions from The Globe and Mail. Less than an hour after The Globe asked the mayor for comment, his lawyer, Dennis Morris, said Mr. Ford is planning to “take a break” from the mayoral election.

Link

Reading that, I just get sad all over again. I hope the man gets help. Then I hope he pulls out of the upcoming election, entirely. And never runs for any public office ever again.

[Parrothead]

Apparently, he's gone into rehab. Hopefully, this is so. He should have done this back when he admitted to trying crack, last fall.

ETA. I did vote for him as mayor. I supported his agenda, liked the way as a councillor he was pointing out small expenditures other councillors were making to office budgets some that could have been covered themselves. As a councillor he was fine, unfortunately not suited to be Mayor.

[FZR1KG]

And people say the US has some crazy shit happening in politics! lol

[squ1d]

US still takes the cake I think

[SciFi Chick]

US still takes the cake I think

I know the U.S. takes the cake.

[Rommie]

US still takes the cake I think

I know the U.S. takes the cake.

Exactly. That's why a US citizen weary of always taking the cake likes it when we can criticize someone else's behavior for a change.