The story has taken an unexpected and potentially grim turn:

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has been admitted to hospital following a diagnosis of a tumour, Humber River Hospital officials and Ford’s family confirmed Wednesday, but there is no sign Ford intends on dropping out of the mayoral race.

“The tumour is in his abdomen, that’s our working diagnosis based on a CT scan,” said Dr. Rueben Devlin, president and CEO of Humber River Hospital, where Ford is currently staying.

“It’s being investigated further and we need to determine exactly what type of tumour it is,” Devlin said at a news conference held at the hospital’s Church Street site (near Jane Street) Wednesday night. Devlin added that Ford will undergo a biopsy in the coming days.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/r ... -1.2762528

Nice support from Mike Tyson -....that should sway a lot of voters...

Macdoc wrote:Nice support from Mike Tyson -....that should sway a lot of voters...

I hope when Tyson opined that Ford was the best mayor in Toronto history, someone asked him to name at least one of the previous mayors.

Wife beaters and rapists gotta stick together man!

Shrunk wrote:The story has taken an unexpected and potentially grim turn:

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has been admitted to hospital following a diagnosis of a tumour, Humber River Hospital officials and Ford’s family confirmed Wednesday, but there is no sign Ford intends on dropping out of the mayoral race.

“The tumour is in his abdomen, that’s our working diagnosis based on a CT scan,” said Dr. Rueben Devlin, president and CEO of Humber River Hospital, where Ford is currently staying.

“It’s being investigated further and we need to determine exactly what type of tumour it is,” Devlin said at a news conference held at the hospital’s Church Street site (near Jane Street) Wednesday night. Devlin added that Ford will undergo a biopsy in the coming days.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/r ... -1.2762528

I think he's pregnant with Karen Stinz's love child.

Dude, a little compassion. Also, I don't think the concerns raised by Warren Kinsella today can be completely dismissed:

I was disgusted and appalled by the frankly evil things being said about Rob Ford’s predicament on Twitter. I said so, and I wasn’t alone. I firmly believe, this morning, that some of the things being said by self-described “progressives” will propel many, many sympathetic/empathetic voters into supporting Rob Ford again. It was that bad....

At this point, it will be very difficult for anyone to call Rob Ford names anymore, as John Tory has been doing. That’s one thing.

This is the other: all that Rob Ford need do is show up – and look vulnerable and human and brave, as Layton and Bouchard did – and something like this will happen:

He will win.

I thought about that. However, given he's the first to vilify the poor due to their "life choices", I hesitate to show compassion for a man who smokes crack, drinks heavily, beats his friends until they cry, humiliates his wife in front of his kids, and eats KFC on a regular basis to boot.

I got the impression he was like Canada's national version of The Picture Of Dorian Grey, allowing everyone else to be almost impossibly friendly and polite by being a complete arsehole.

What might happen if he doesn't make it?

Toronto will be a slightly better place save the people who voted for him.

tolman wrote:I got the impression he was like Canada's national version of The Picture Of Dorian Grey, allowing everyone else to be almost impossibly friendly and polite by being a complete arsehole.

What might happen if he doesn't make it?

An interesting thing is that tomorrow at 2:00 is the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the ballot and for people to declare as candidates. There remain rumours that Brother Doug will step in and run if health concerns force Rob to drop out of the race. The biopsy results could be available tomorrow. Tomorrow could be a day of high drama.

I am also reminded of this incident from the last campaign:

As the floor opened to questions at a Sept. 30 debate in North York, a man stepped to the mic and addressed Ford.

“I’m a physician and I look upon you as a possible patient. I’m concerned about your weight. Do you think you’ll be able to handle the entire four-year term?”

Ford’s competitors expressed shock at the forthright question. George Smitherman mouthed the word “wow” as Rocco Rossi and Joe Pantalone traded glances.

Ford, who earlier in the campaign spent more than two hours a day working out with a personal trainer, answered: “I’ve been a big guy my whole life. The doctor says I’m healthy, I got to lose a few pounds, but, I sort of think that’s offensive . . . I thought that only came from my opponents.”

Shrunk wrote:

tolman wrote:I got the impression he was like Canada's national version of The Picture Of Dorian Grey, allowing everyone else to be almost impossibly friendly and polite by being a complete arsehole.

What might happen if he doesn't make it?

An interesting thing is that tomorrow at 2:00 is the deadline for candidates to withdraw from the ballot and for people to declare as candidates. There remain rumours that Brother Doug will step in and run if health concerns force Rob to drop out of the race. The biopsy results could be available tomorrow. Tomorrow could be a day of high drama.

I am also reminded of this incident from the last campaign:

As the floor opened to questions at a Sept. 30 debate in North York, a man stepped to the mic and addressed Ford.

“I’m a physician and I look upon you as a possible patient. I’m concerned about your weight. Do you think you’ll be able to handle the entire four-year term?”

Ford’s competitors expressed shock at the forthright question. George Smitherman mouthed the word “wow” as Rocco Rossi and Joe Pantalone traded glances.

Ford, who earlier in the campaign spent more than two hours a day working out with a personal trainer, answered: “I’ve been a big guy my whole life. The doctor says I’m healthy, I got to lose a few pounds, but, I sort of think that’s offensive . . . I thought that only came from my opponents.”

I'll make a wild guess here: He looks to me to be around 300+ pounds. If that's not the picture of health, I don't know what is?

Oh and Rob... my doctor says I'm Spiderman.

It now seems the biopsy results will not be known for about a week. Sorry for my misinformation above.

Looks like Rob's out and Doug's in but the dust hasn't settled

His wife this morning had a sound bite saying "she's hopeful." She fell short of saying the words "of recovery."

With Rob now out of the race perhaps Toronto can get back to not being the city that has a mayor who’s the laughing stock of the world. Whether Doug can convince voters (in such a short time span) to support him remains to be seen. Personally I’d like to see them both go down to defeat. (For those not in the know) Rob is now running as a city councillor taking his brother’s seat (instead of running for mayor) and Doug is now running for mayor.

As far as his health is concerned... there’s much speculation (cancer?), but regardless, he’s abused his body to the extreme! Call me what you will, but I have zero sympathy for him. It’s mostly his own doing. Heavy drug use, heavy alcohol use, plus being horribly overweight... generally a sure-fire cocktail for an early exit from this world.

good fucking riddance whatever the method.....not only a city disgrace but a national one.

Skinny Puppy wrote:(For those not in the know) Rob is now running as a city councillor taking his brother’s seat (instead of running for mayor)

And in order to accommodate that, their 20 year old nephew Mike (who only changed his last name to Ford specifically for the election) had to withdraw his candidacy and run as a school trustee, instead. They really think they're the Canadian Kennedys.

I'm not really sure why Rob couldn't just remain a candidate and Doug also file his papers to run, and then one of them drop out based on the results of Rob's medical tests. Two possibilities: They doctors are giving them much more specific information regarding the likely diagnosis than is being released to the public (which would be totally appropriate). Or they were worried that having two Fords on the ballot would overload the easily-addled brains of the members of Ford Nation and they'd end up splitting the vote.

Interesting side issue to all this: Doug Ford cannot legally use any of the funds raised for Rob's campaign. So right now he is launching a campaign without a single cent to support it and less than two months to go. He can't even use the "Ford for Mayor" signs without buying them himself first from Rob. Any bets on whether he'll end up being found breaking that rule?

The deadline for signing up was also the deadline for dropping out.

Shrunk wrote:Interesting side issue to all this: Doug Ford cannot legally use any of the funds raised for Rob's campaign. So right now he is launching a campaign without a single cent to support it and less than two months to go. He can't even use the "Ford for Mayor" signs without buying them himself first from Rob. Any bets on whether he'll end up being found breaking that rule?

He'll probably try and claim he's doing his bit for recycling.