Rick McGinnis: Why I'd vote for Rob Ford again

“When Toronto voters chose Rob Ford to be their mayor on October 25, 2010, they knew full well they were electing a flawed man.” This is the sentence reporter Robyn Doolittle chose to begin the final, summary chapter of Crazy Town, her book on the rise and (apparent) fall of Toronto mayor Rob Ford, and to give her credit, it shows that she understands the people pejoratively dubbed “Ford Nation” better than many of her colleagues at either the Toronto Star – the paper where Doolittle made her reputation covering Ford – or the Globe & Mail, the paper that poached Doolittle just after Crazy Town hit the shelves. 

“Ford was,” Doolittle admits with candour rare among Canadian journalists, “the best candidate in the race. He ran the best campaign, he stayed on message, and he talked about issues people cared about.” This simple fact was almost impossible to explain to Ford’s opponents both before and after Ford’s 2010 victory. I know – I tried...

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