I hate Rob Ford...

I do not hate a lot of things. 

But the things I hate are very specific:  Julia Stiles, Season 2 of Heroes, Raccoons, that guy who I play Basketball with on Saturdays who thinks he is better than me so he continues to look me off instead of passing to me and then proceeds to throw up air ball after air ball.  He can rot in hell.

But there is a special place in my hating heart for Rob Ford.  

Now I do not hate him for his vulgarity or his love of football.  I don't even hate him because of his stupid transit policies or the fact that he seems to not believe in freedom of the press.    I hate him because he is a hypocrite.

Recently, it emerged that Rob Ford spent approximately $1,500 more on business cards than the typical counsellor so that he could order them from his family company.  When this came to light he reacted by reimbursing the city the money and stating:  "I am continuing my commitment to respect tax dollars which I demonstrated throughout my 10 years as a Councillor by keeping the office expenses paid by taxpayers down to the essentials".

So let me get this straight.  This is the man who ran on a platform of cutting the gravy train and made hay over the amount spent on the expenditures (such as a retirement party or the rental of a bunny suit) by other counsellors.  He then gets caught funneling taxpayer money to HIS FAMILY COMPANY (which he part owns), spends MORE money than others, bills this to the city and then decides AFTER getting caught that he will pay it back and use this repayment as proof of how responsible he is. 

Really?  Is he that stupid?  Are we?

Let me begin by saying I think that all this focus on the small stuff is missing the point.  Voting somebody into office on the promise of $1000 savings here or there is never going to save Toronto from the problems it has.  In my opinion Rob Ford has been a disaster at managing the "Big Stuff".  However, if you are going to run on a campaign of stopping the gravy train don't you have to respect this yourself? 

If you are going to complain about how much someone spends on their retirement party as a key part of your campaign don't you have to accept responsibility when you do the same thing (only worse)? Isn't it the definition of hypocrisy to try and turn your misdeed in to proof of your respect for the taxpayers?

Maybe Rob Ford is just stupid and not malicious - in the end it doesn't matter.

In the words of Margaret Atwood (Who is she again?): "Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results."