The contradiction that is Rob Ford

Compare and contrast:

• Peter Worthington, Sunday: By presenting himself as a blunt-talking, straight-arrow, tell-it-like-it-is guy who radiates honesty, Ford leapt into the lead among Torontonians fed up to the gills with the spending and self-justifying nonsense of our present mayor and many in council.


• Toronto Sun Editorial, Friday: Rob Ford's honesty in question

Oddly enough, this is one of those rare times when the Toronto Sun Editorial Board gets one right. Ford can be the biggest straight shooter in terms of what the city needs. The problem is, his actions whenever faced with a possibly negative story is to deny first, then admit guilt when faced with evidence proving his guilt? An honest man would own up to his transgressions when first given the opportunity, not deny and hope that it is not followed up on. This is even more troublesome when you are running a campaign with a basis on trust.

Worthington acknowledges that there's an issue with Ford's honesty, but waves it away by saying "There’s a difference in not being blatantly honest about embarrassing incidents in your own life, and looting the public till and not being honest with taxpayers’ money." This doesn't deal with the pattern that Ford is setting, nor does it acknowledge that Ford is actually willing to spend cash that city council identified as a savings.

(In a related note, how bad are things when the city's conservative newspaper calls out the front-running conservative mayor candidate?)

I also have to wonder about Ford's move to not officially comment about anything to the Toronto Star. Aren't you just opening yourself up to even more one-sided reporting due to not giving a response to any story brought by the newspaper?

Rob Ford's ideas might be what the city of Toronto needs. I'm not sure that his other actions are needed though.