As if we needed yet another reason not to vote for Rob Ford as mayor of Toronto.
(Apologies if this is already well trod ground. We’ve been roughing it in the bushes for the last few days and this only hit our radar this morning.)
It seems that the blustery councillor and mayoral hopeful is as thin-skinned as he is thick-headed. 
Last week Team Rob Ford took exception to a less than flattering but painfully obvious parody blog, robfordmayor.com, and had its lawyers slap a cease-and-desist order on it, demanding an immediate adherence to the following:
- Disable and remove all material from the website www.robfordmayor.com;
- Confirm in writing that you will not publish similar infringing material in the future;
- Publish and unqualified apology to Mr. Ford; and,
- Provide us with the identity of the person who registered and published on www.robfordmayor.com, as this person would be the proper defendant in any potential court action, and we would not be able to access his/her true identity without this disclosure from you.
For all you out there still misguidedly operating under the pretension that Rob Ford is all about looking out for the little guy, I have two words for you: McCague Borlack.
This is the quintessential behaviour of a bully. A master of dishing it out but possessing zero tolerance when on the receiving end of taunts and mockery and ridicule. Rob Ford has stood up in council and derided cyclists who get into accidents with cars (although his heart does go out to them) and those afflicted with HIV-AIDS as perpetrators of their own afflictions. Yet, in the face of schoolyard, locker room humour, he hightails it to hide behind his lawyers. Mommy, mommy. Stop them. They’re making fun of me.
What kind of fortress of solitude has superhero Rob Ford been dwelling in for the last decade or so? You step into the public spotlight and the insults and ridicule just comes with the territory. That’s been the case long before the interwebs ever came into being and, to paraphrase Pierre Trudeau, much better men than Rob Ford have been called much worse things throughout the annals of history.
More disturbing still, reading over the order issued to the server of www.robfordmayor.com, it seems that Rob Ford may actually believe some of the shit he’s trying to pedal to the voting public during this campaign. It starts like a prospective fundraising letter. Mr. Ford has been the Councillor representing Ward 2 in North Etobicoke since 2000, and he is one of the hardest working councillors in Toronto. Due to his extensive work in the community, Mr. Ford has become well-known for superlative and conscientious work as a public servant, businessman, volunteer and family man. Understandably, his reputation is very important to him. [bolding very definitely ours].
Errr… Mr. Ford’s “reputation is very important to him”? Can this be the same Rob Ford who, after complaints about his drunken outburst at a Leafs’ game 4 years ago, first lied about being there and then issued a public apology, stating that, hey, he was only human. Now his reputation’s important to him? Why the change? Oh right. He’s running for mayor.
As a candidate seeking that office and “one of the hardest working councillors in Toronto” — was lawyer Anthony Cole trying to summon up images of James Brown with that turn of phrase? – one might think Rob Ford and his team would have more important things on their plate other than trolling the internet, trying to quash what even the creator of robfordmayor.com referred to as a “low grade satire’. It reveals an unsettling streak of small-minded pettiness. In Rob Ford’s case, it also exposes the lie at the heart of his common man appeal. The emperor has no clothes and when the people pointed that out, he lawyered up and threatened them with libel suits. How very Conrad Black of Rob Ford.
— barristerly and solicitorly submitted by Cityslikr
Email me a bunch of pictures and information about yourself and I will set up a satirical about you.
Everyone has a right to defend their identity online.
Dear Andrew,
We here at All Fired Up in the Big Smoke aren’t running for public office, so any satirical as you call them wouldn’t really resonate beyond our precious few friends and family members. But hey, knock yourself out. You won’t be the first one to feature any of us in a satirical. Outlandish, even scurrilous attacks, just come as part of the job description when you decide to throw your hat into the political ring.
We think the number of readers who came across robfordmayor.com and truly thought it was the actual Rob Ford writing it were few and far between. So this could hardly be thought of as online identity theft. I think Mr. Ford and you who are supporting him need to just lighten up and take a deep, soothing breath. A joke is a joke is a joke.
I treat life like one big joke…so when I sound like I’ve raging against the machine…I am actually making a joke. Nothing is worth taking seriously. The problem with the internet and forums like this is there is no sarcasm tag.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion…not said jokingly.
Dear Andrew,
So wait.. are you joking with this comment even though you said you’re not joking? We here at All Fired Up in the Big Smoke are confused. There are smiling, winking emoticons that denote when you’re being funny or sarcastic whenever you’re actual writing can’t.
I don’t believe in emoticons and smilieys, they are too cutesy and not for grown men (neither is making little hearts for the dots for i’s).
The situation can be fully explain by this episode of Star Trek at the five minute mark,
http://www.youtube.com watch?v=x6WSIXxTx4I
Mr. Ford needs to be protected as the internet is so pervasive. It seems he is only able to deal with minor issues without a lawyer. If this is a sign of what Toronto will get if he is elected mayor it is disheartening. There is an old saying If you can’t take the heat; get out of the kitchen. The race is only starting he needs to understand the issues. Just publishing the truth about him would do more damge than he could handle. Both Ford and Smitherman seem to be using bullyboy tactics. I wonder what would happen if they tried to debate me?
I am surprised robfordmayor.com stayed up as long as it did. I first discovered it on this site when a reader linked to it. I checked it 3-4 times since and never noticed any disclaimer as to the fact this was a satirical site. Although it is obviously a joke blog site not administered by the real Rob Ford, I looked for a disclaimer stating who was running it and never noticed one. I guess I just missed it. I get the comments about Ford running for public office so he’s fair game, etc.
But I would buy that argument more if the website, pictures and everything else “pretend” to be speaking as the real Rob Ford. Yeah it was harmless, but there have been other cases taken to court over defamation of character and slander on the internet. What other recourse do people have nowadays to have a site about them taken down?
The disclaimer was actually formatted to be white text on a white background, no one would have seen it.