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It’s somewhat of a shame that Rob Ford’s end of days are approaching

I’m not a very big fan of crack (nor should anyone be). I’ve never touched the stuff myself, nor would I have any real inclination to, especially since it’s the face of urban blight. I especially since it’s bad when public officials are doing crack, because that seems like you’re just headed to (a) despair and (b) punchline territory, probably in reverse order. Marion Barry is the face of this situation for the U.S. Rob Ford is now the face of it for Canada, and the alleged crack video may now be in the hands of the Toronto police. As of now, though, he’s not going to resign.

Ford is obviously a bit of a mess in some ways, but he could well be one of the more entertaining train wreck local officials in North America (if not the world) right now. I condone absolutely nothing this guy does, but it’s somewhat viscerally amusing to observe from afar and wonder how exactly a person like R. Ford becomes involved in the public sphere. Consider first: “Assgrabgate.”

Consider also: everything on this thread, including leaving a military ball because he was too wasted.

Exhibit C:

And Exhibit D:

Exhibit E: “Cyclists are a pain in the ass.”

Toronto is legitimately one of the greatest cities in the world. It’s metropolitan, cosmopolitan, clean, mostly safe, walkable, and quite diverse. It deserves more than Rob Ford, even if some of the above clips make you laugh. Hopefully the end days are near, and in contrast to the title of said post, it’s not really somewhat of a shame. It’s a good thing (a great thing) for a great city. If you’re reading all this and wondering exactly where it went wrong for Mr. Ford, well, someone tried to make a video about that. Not sure the answers ye seek are there, but … give it a rip.

Ted Bauer