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Goldsbie: But was any of this unexpected? Anyone who’d paid more than cursory attention to local news or politics at any time in the last decade foresaw a mayoralty in which news stories leading with “Police say they will not charge Toronto Mayor Rob Ford…” would constitute just another weekday. And although I’m certainly grateful that no one was hurt, there’s certainly a metaphor in the idea that Ford considers returning constituents’ phone calls to be a higher priority than not running them over. I’m much more interested in, and far more surprised by, the naïve and/or opportunistic councillors who deem Rob and Doug to be legitimate leaders worth supporting. Sure, there have always been a handful of unprincipled conservatives on Council, but I still fail to understand what the more principled conservatives and the less principled liberals think they’re gaining by propping up two individuals who repeatedly and regularly reaffirm their unfitness for government. If nothing else, the duo discredits both right-wing ideology and the very institution to which these councillors worked so hard to get elected; videos of Council meetings now play as snuff films in which we witness the demise of many once-promising political careers.

Gurney: I get where you both are coming from, and rather than asking Chris to come down from the ledge, it might be better to ask him to shuffle over and make room for Jonathan and I. Like Chris says, barely anything has happened yet, and we’re already getting bogged down in discussions over who flipped whom off and whether Doug Ford knows how to pronounce “library” (If you missed those few minutes of talk-radio gold, count yourself lucky and get me a drink). But I’m not sure I agree with Jonathan that we’re watching any political careers go up in smoke here. It might be comforting if that was the case. But I think that both the left-wing and right-wing factions of the council will be able to thump their chests loudly and often and play to their base and get re-elected. Politicians don’t need to generate a lot of results anymore. They just need a convincing narrative blaming someone else for the failure. Culture wars motivate electorates.