From the Toronto Star:
Mayor Rob Ford unequivocally says there is no video that shows him using crack cocaine.
Asked by a caller to his Sunday radio show whether it is indeed him in the video described by the Star and the U.S. website Gawker, Ford laughed and responded, “Number 1, there’s no video, so that’s all I can say. You can’t comment on something that doesn’t exist.”
Ford firmly called the reports “false,” a word that did not appear in his Friday speech at City Hall. In that speech, he said, “I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine. As for a video, I cannot comment on a video that I have never seen or does not exist.”
Many city councillors and political pundits were unsatisfied with the speech, urging Ford to address the reports more thoroughly. Ford suggested Sunday that he believes he has said enough.
“No matter what you say, I found out, to the media, you’re never going to make them happy. You can give them 10 bars of gold and they’re going to want — why don’t I give 15 bars of gold? Well, you know what, folks, that’s the media that we have, unfortunately,” he said.
Councillor Doug Ford, the mayor’s brother and co-host, said 80 per cent of journalists are “nasty son-of-a-guns.” Rob Ford interjected: “Bunch of maggots.” After a brief pause, he added, “Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”
Doug Ford later asked listeners to contact him with any personal information about members of the media. He accused unnamed reporters of using cocaine themselves.
“Maggots”, eh? So! Whose word do we take? The journalists and media outlets that can be sued if they get their facts wrong or the angry politician with a documented history of lying whose biggest supporter is his anti-drug crusader brother who allegedly sold drugs in the ’80s*? Tough call.
But oddly enough, the nagging shard of guilt I had over being in a When Will Rob Ford Resign? pool has completely vanished.
*And how come a guy like me who takes an occasional puff on someone else’s joint maybe once every six months, and who has never used hash and never sold drugs, is in favour of legalization, while Doug Ford, who was allegedly once a middle-level drug dealer, is opposed? I have theories; feel free to share yours below.
