But there is such a thing as fighting fire with fire and there are certain situations and/or individuals in which doing so is not merely justified, it's really the only appropriate response. During Ford's 4 yr. rampage as Mayor, it was frustrating to the point of tearing one's own hair out to watch every single person in any kind of position of power deliberately sit on their hands and let him do whatever the hell he damn well pleased, particularly when the given reasons were generally along the lines of, "Oh, we're too noble, too pure, too saintly and too high-minded to actually respond in kind. He'll never be adequately punished (or even punished at all) or answer for his behavior in any real way, but if we only wait 4 years (or maybe 8 or more), then possiblyhe'll be voted out of office! That'll show him, LOL!"
Ford is one of those demagogues who's determined to destroy government by showing it doesn't work, and in his case, he actually got elected in order to sabotage the very institution he was supposed to be serving. And every single "moderate," "respectable" middle-of-the-road or self-styled progressive chickenshit in City Hall and the local media who adopted appeasement as the official method of dealing with Ford aided him in that endeavor. What most of them really meant when they said they were taking the so-called high road was that they didn't have the stomach for a protracted political fight with vicious brutes like the Ford brothers. And you know, I'm not even entirely unsympathetic to that mindset; I'm far from being the most physically courageous person you'll meet, so when, for example, Olivia Chow physically cringed away from Rob Ford in obvious fear at one of their debates, I can't very well blame the woman. Except to say that if she couldn't stand up to the fucking pig, she had no business entering that contest to begin with.
You don't let bullies get away with the kind of shit Ford pulled. He wins either way, even if he's eventually turfed out of office. It looks bad to the majority of people who aren't political and are inclined to recognize what sort of a creature we have in Ford, but see every lever of legitimate opposition utterly fail in every conceivable way when it comes to opposing him. It doesn't make us "the bigger person" to allow Ford to skate away, scott free, after letting him rampage unopposed while in office. On the contrary, it makes us look incompetent, cowardly, self-serving, useless. Unserious. Particularly to the type of voters we need to kick the likes of Ford out on his fat ass come election day. It's a bad idea, especially if you try to cloak it with the mantle of high-mindedness. It doesn't look "high-minded" to ordinary, apolitical citizens when they see elected representatives knuckle under to an obvious, undisguised thug. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't.