There can't be many readers of this blog who are unaware that Toronto police have now revealed that they are in possession of a long-rumoured video showing the city's ursine mayor, Rob Ford, inhaling from what looks like a crack pipe. The story went around the world in minutes yesterday, featuring on CNN and the BBC, and providing the basis for a stunningly unfunny gag by Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. A #robford hashtag attracted 44,000 tweets on Thursday alone.
Naturally the Canadian media have gone completely gaga about the latest developments. The Toronto Star had something like twenty pages on all things Ford today, plus an editorial calling on Ford to resign. The other Toronto papers echoed that demand. For those who still feel they need to know more about the story, there's a fairly unsensationalized timeline on the CBC website.
The OTT coverage in the Star should have surprised no-one. The paper has been out to get Ford for years and broke the crack video story back in May. However, the gloating tone of today's articles is more than slightly unseemly: one columnist, the self righteous Joe Fiorito, has even taken it upon himself to call out specific readers who have quibbled with the paper's past coverage, belittle them and demand they apologize.
Ford has made it clear that he has no intention of resigning, and it's likely that one reason for his unapologetic stance is that he knows that the Star's hysterical approach to this whole tawdry mess may yet work in his favour. I imagine I may be typical of a lot of people when I say that, given his rabidly right wing politics, I can't imagine ever voting for Ford*, and I'm quite certain that he's a naughty boy with some very unsavoury buddies -- but at the same time, I'd like the media, and especially the Star, to back off.
The Star is very firmly in the Liberal camp politically, with occasional bows toward the more socialist NDP at the local level. But Ford's low tax, anti-establishment stance proved very popular with Toronto voters in the last mayoral election, and his base of support has remained remarkably stable. The Star is mortified and mystified by this, and seems to have chosen an all-out ad hominem attack on the man's character to compensate for the fact that it can't seem to undermine his policies. It's nigh on impossible to imagine the Star doing anything similar to a senior Liberal politician who went astray in his or her private life, short of evidence of something truly grotesque such as pedophilia**.
For all of Ford's initial bluster about staying on, it's hard to see how he can survive in the near term. City councillors are lining up to distance themselves from him, and the city's administration is likely to grind to a standstill if Ford digs in. However, he can't be counted out. If he recuses himself temporarily from his post, apologizes to the voters and seeks some form of rehab....well, the next mayoral election is just a year away. And if a reborn and contrite Ford runs and gets re-elected, his first "thank you" on election night should be to the editor of the Toronto Star.
* I can't anyway, as I don't live in Toronto.
** The callow Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau, has admitted to smoking marijuana, yet the story has gained no traction at all in the Star.
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