Harper Conservatives should thank Ford for taking the heat off them

What goes on in personal lives of politicians should remain personal (to them). At least that is the view I have. Though it is at times enticing and entertaining to peek into the personal lives of others yet we don't do it as we consider it to be impolite and unconscionable. Yet when it comes to politicians, we use a different yard stick. We have no qualms in taking our turn at the peep hole to see what is going inside their bedrooms and what are they doing at the crack houses. Instead of feeling guilty we enjoy their tales of human failings and share that with each other without any qualms, at times just to fill up dead air

After all, whatever that Clinton and Monica Lewinsky had going between them, was not affecting the lives of Americans in any tangible way. Similarly, whether or not Ford has smoked crack or not, does not affect ordinary Torontonians. 

Though I strongly hold the views about entitlement of personal freedom by politicians, I am still upset that Rob Ford is continuing to be mute about the allegations of him smoking crack. The reason is simple. It does not really affect me what he does in his spare time, ie coaching a football team, smoking crack, or being a good father to his kids. It does however affect me when his past time squabbles are affecting city business. By not speaking to the media, sneaking out of his office through back doors and playing all kinds of cat/mouse games that you can think of, this guy has turned this whole episode into a circus. He is not a politician any more but an entertainer. And this is not what he was elected to do.

Worse than him not being able to effectively run city business (because from what has been reported, he was hardly in the office in the first place even before this issue came about), he has provided a perfect get away to Prime Minister Harper and his Conservative government. And this is affecting ordinary Canadians big time. After all, $90 000 to Senator Duffy, his strange and dubious expense claims, should be the only political story at this time. Yet Ford's daily entertainment has caused that serious matter to be over shadowed.

Now the Senate corruption scandal is important. Boring yes. Entertaining, no. Important, yes. Why? Because it involved public officials (unelected politicians, be it in the PMO or in the Senate, embezzling heaps and heaps of tax payers money. Yet somehow this cant be reported because there is no air time available to discuss it.

This, to me, is the real tragedy.