Why “Maggots”, Rob Ford, Why “Maggots”?

All right.  Everyone’s favorite mayor of the moment, the esteemed mayor of Toronto who is enjoying a 15 minutes of fame (outside his locale of Toronto)… and something I’m pondering with this one

Mayor Rob Ford unequivocally says there is no video that shows him using crack cocaine.
That’s the background for the next bit…

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.”

Here’s some interesting thoughts on Doug Ford..

But I’m a bit curious on the word “maggot”.  An odd choice of insults.  It hearkens to military drill sergeant terminology, so far as I can remember from various pop culture scenes, though to get to that definition in the online urban dictionary you have to get to its apparent use as term of endearment in Slipknot fandom.

Also apparently an Australian word for wasted and inebriated… odd coincidence.

Mayor Rob Ford was asked to leave a gala event celebrating the Canadian armed forces last month, because organizers were concerned he was impaired. 
The request to leave the Toronto Garrison Ball came two weeks before Sarah Thomson, a Toronto businesswoman and former mayoral candidate, created a media storm when she accused Ford of groping her while acting “out of it” at a Jewish political group’s event. 
It’s an open secret at city hall that the mayor has battled alcohol abuse. Those closest to him are concerned for his health and the impact it has on his job as mayor of Canada’s largest city. Current and former staff have told the Star of repeated attempts to persuade the mayor to get help for more than two years and as recently as November. All attempts have been rebuffed.

And of course it rhymes with a word that begins with “f”.  Which is probably the elan that propels it above any other insects to the forefront of insults thrown out by drill sergeants.

You know… Theodore Roosevelt actually coined a term to deride the press — “muckraker” — which dovetails into maggots (rolling around in the filth).  Of course the problem when you do that is they’ll take the term and make it a positive.  So I guess it is best to just throw out different nasty creatures.  On that score, Rob Ford beats Theodore Roosevelt.

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