“What a day!”

That was the general chorus ringing through the newsroom on Thursday of this week.

My response: “Just another day.”

Only because it caps off the most difficult and distracting weeks I’ve ever seen at Toronto City Hall. It was the eighth straight day of salacious scenarios and political carpet bombing with Ford Nation at ground zero.

It’s hard to remember such a week. In an eight day stretch, the mayor has been exposed as an admitted crack user who lied to his family, friends, staff and constituents about his substance abuse. It all began on Halloween with police chief Bill Blair’s “Bomb Before the Storm” – announcing that investigators were in possession of a video file that appeared to show Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine. Every day since has been punctuated by some chaotic crescendo that only serves to illustrate the mayor’s obviously tragic downward spiral.

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Add to all this the late night comedy sketches and the sidebar stories about who may or may not run for mayor in the upcoming municipal campaign and this qualifies as a week that has completely spun out of control for the mayor, his family and the city.

Still, I am inundated with viewer email accusing Global News and other media of picking on the mayor. These are some examples:

“I’m not sure what the media in Toronto has against Rob Ford…You guys (the press) appear to have absolutely nothing to report on. Is it because you’re lazy, greedy or corrupt? Or is it something else?”

“… the press here hound all the wrong people.”

“…Leave him alone now that he has admitted to using crack cocaine, but is not an addict of it.”

“Your station is so biased and in favor of the political GRAVY TRAIN it is ridiculous..”

“Enough PLEASE enough on Rob Ford. You do stories about bullies and it seems to me that right now the Media, including yourself is bullying Ford out of office.”

“Dear Sirs,

I am watching Global TV…Nobody is perfect, so it was his personal doings which had not to made public. They have been made public, because somebody wanted to put him out of office, that is the reason at all.”

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“Please be fair and balanced in your programming. Rob Ford admitted to smoking crack and you are all over him. Justin Trudeau smoked pot. Do a comparison.”

As a general response, I’d say the Global News coverage of Rob Ford over the past week, (on air and online) is not solely about his admitted drug use. It’s about the Mayor’s behaviour. It’s about his admitted lies. It’s about his inability or refusal to address the issues that are crippling his ability to govern. It’s not nearly comparable to the Trudeau story.

If you want to make comparisons about behaviour, consider this.

A Peel Region vice-principal was disciplined by his school board and is under investigation because he sported blackface as part of a Halloween costume.

The Ryerson University men’s hockey team forfeited two games, was suspended for seven days, the assistant coach was fired, the head coach suspended for four days because the players drank some post game beers during a road trip.

Toronto’s Mayor admits to smoking crack cocaine after denying the accusation for six months. He admits to lying to his family, friends, staff, city councillors and constituents after repeatedly accusing the media et al of lying about him. The Mayor admits to public drunkenness after denying he’d done anything other than have a “few pops” on the Danforth. The mayor continues to deny any of this is having an effect on his ability to do his job. He continues to refuse calls for him to at least take a leave of absence. He still has his job.

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“What a day!”

Just a warning.

Day ain’t over my friends.