Even Marion Barry Thinks Rob Ford Has Made A Fool Of Himself
Slate’s David Weigel asked former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, who has had his own share of personal problems over the year, to comment on Toronto Mayor Rob Ford:
We also talked about Rob Ford. Sorry, but I couldn’t resist. Ford is still running for re-election in Toronto, and he’s become a kind of laughingstock, but it struck me that the coverage of Barry after his 1990 arrest (during an FBI sting operation) was so much less forgiving, more outraged—darker—then what greeted Ford.
“He’s not connected to me,” Barry said. “He doesn’t have my historical record of achievement. My record is so far better. As far as his use of drugs and alchohol, he’s making a fool of himself and”—Barry shook his head*—“he’s making a fool of himself. He shouldn’t use the fact of him using drugs as an excuse for being a fool. I sympathize with him. I know what he’s going through. But I don’t agree with what he’s doing.”
When Marion Barry thinks you’ve made a fool of yourself, you’ve really made a fool of yourself.
I’m willing to rely on his great body of experience in the matter.
Words fail.
One does have to allow for Ford being a big, fat guy who looks like certain popular comedians and is physically amusing. Even without drugs, Ford just is buffoonish.