QUOTED: Doug Ford loudly defends the mayor’s right to drive an Escalade

—Doug Ford, lashing out at Canada’s largest daily paper for criticizing the Cadillac Escalade he and brother Randy gave Rob Ford for his 43rd birthday. In a column titled “The Ford Brothers’ Escalade escapade,” Christopher Hume called Doug a “one-percenter, plutocrat and luxury SUV driver” and argued that Rob ought to own up to his privileged roots rather than pretending to be an everyman. Doug called the coverage a “bunch of crap” and said the newspaper shouldn’t have targeted Rob since he only reluctantly accepted the gift. So, thanks to a fancy car, the long-standing beef between the newspaper and the Ford family is continuing to, er, escalate. [Toronto Sun]