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[np_storybar title=”COUNTERPOINT: There’s nothing essential about Rob Ford’s tepid fiscal record” link=”http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/11/08/chris-selley-theres-nothing-essential-about-rob-fords-tepid-fiscal-record/”]

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There is joy in Hogtown. The mighty Ford has struck out. They’re on their feet along the baseline out to left field, around the media tent and through the downtown Toronto core, where crowds gather to celebrate. Mayor Rob Ford, unbeatable as a relatively conservative politician, struck out against himself, felled by personal weakness rather than policy.

For all his foibles as a politician — uncouth, unsophisticated, brash and instinctive rather than calculating and intelligent — as mayor the man has never really been touched by his political and ideological opponents.

But now his enemies have something. In the wake of admissions and revelations over the last couple of weeks — he’s a drunk, he smoked crack, he’s an embarrassment to Toronto The Good — a righteous frenzy has gripped much of Toronto’s political class. To top it off, he lied — not about some kickback or corruption or genuine malfeasance along the lines of Montreal or Detroit or Chicago, but about the fact that he has an alcohol and drug problem that he refused to acknowledge.