Article content continued

[np-related]

At first, after the Danzig shooting, it seemed the sentiment would hold. And really, why wouldn’t it? The list of victims was tragically longer, but it was the same brand of madness. When people start firing wildly into or around crowds, the amount of collateral damage is going to be down mostly to luck, not intent.

“I am shocked and disgusted by this senseless act of violence,” read the middle-of-the-night statement from Mr. Ford on Tuesday. “While we try to understand this tragic event, I want to assure residents that this horrific, criminal behaviour will not be tolerated in our City.”

Fine. Tough, but sane, talk.

And then, it all went quickly to hell. By the end of Tuesday the Mayor had “declare[d] war on these violent gangs,” causing many people who wouldn’t dream of voting for Mr. Ford to cluck their tongues and roll their eyes. But still, it wasn’t the end of the world … until he went on the radio to suggest somehow evicting gangsters from Toronto, or from Canada altogether, or … well, something. He vowed to talk to the Citizenship and Immigration Minister about it. It was confusing. And he followed it up with a toe-curling second radio hit during which, at one point, he basically asked the hosts to explain the nature of Canadian citizenship to him. It’s beyond parody, and too sad to make a parody of anyway.

Listen to Rob Ford’s radio comments from Thursday:

null

Mr. Ford is well known for profiting from things that would sink other politicians: A DUI, marijuana possession, offering (probably insincerely, but still) to score a guy drugs, his personality. But I don’t see how anyone can look at this and see anything other than a rank embarrassment. He hasn’t said anything particularly offensive. I don’t doubt that he wants to solve the problem. But on a core urban issue, he has shown himself to be completely out of his depth — and what’s worse, willing to run his mouth about it. I don’t know which would be worse: If this communications train wreck was his own idea, or the product of some spectacularly terrible advice.

National Post

• Email: cselley@nationalpost.com | Twitter: cselley