Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Gets Combative on ‘Today,’ ‘Good Morning America’ (Video)

TORONTO – Americans awoke Tuesday to Rob Ford on their TV sets as both NBC’s Today show and ABC’s Good Morning America featured the Toronto mayor insisting he’s not going away, despite losing political power.

On Today, Ford told Matt Lauer he has not entered a drug or alcohol treatment program, even though he has become an international media sensation after admitting to smoking crack cocaine and binge drinking.

“I have a weight issue. I’ve been training every day. All I can say, Matt, actions speak louder than words,” Ford said during an interview taped Monday night in Toronto for airing Tuesday morning.

But the Toronto mayor insisted he wasn’t bowing to growing calls from critics and former backers to enter rehab, only apologizing and moving on.

“We’ve all made mistakes, Matt,” he said. “I’m not perfect. Maybe you are. Maybe other people are. I’ve made mistakes — I admitted to my mistakes.”

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Tuesday’s edition of Good Morning America also featured Ford as the U.S. morning shows competed for access to the Toronto mayor after councilors on Monday peeled away his responsibilities at City Hall.

“All they did was stab me in the back, and over issues, the same issues that I’ve admitted to, that they do, but nobody knows about it,” Ford told a GMA interviewer, repeating allegations that rival Toronto politicians also drink and do drugs behind the scenes.

On Monday night, the Toronto mayor and his brother, Doug Ford, who is also a Toronto councilor, brought their media blitz to CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. “He sort of has the impulse control of a young boy,” correspondent Bill Weir told Anderson Cooper after his interview with Ford ran.

CNN’s Piers Morgan Live featured Sarah Thomson, a Toronto councilor and former mayoral candidate who earlier this year alleged Ford groped her during a public event while apparently high on drugs.

“I think he’s really got an illness and he’s got to deal with it, and he’s hurting Toronto and Toronto’s a beautiful city,” Thomson told Morgan Monday night.

The Canadian media also continued its focus on the combative Toronto mayor, with Sun News Network launching the Ford brothers’ weekly reality show, Ford Nation, on Monday night.

Ford told CBC News chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge that he was “finished” with drinking after reaching a “come-to-Jesus” moment.