Image politics have come to Canada. Toronto elected a fat, stupid, drunken liar to be its mayor yesterday, and while I’m not happy about the result, I also have to acknowledge that there was no real challenge to his ascention. This year’s mayoral race was an embarassment to the political process, filled with candidates whose lack of vision for the city’s future was … well, distressing.

George Smitherman, the presumptive front-runner, ran a terrible campaign for most of this year, coasting on his own sense of entitlement until a poll emerged declaring Ford the front-runner. Ford’s people probably commissioned the poll themselves, but no one seemed able to work the story, and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Ford’s supporters are really good at overlooking or ignoring unpleasant or unflattering things about their guy.

So now he’s our mayor-elect. And because Rob Ford has spent a decade on city council not playing well with others, he’s unlikely to get anything accomplished as mayor. Toronto can look forward to four years of stagnation at best, or rot at worst. But I’m heartened, ever so slightly, by the fact that Ford has demonstrated himself too stupid and too rich to be corrupt; whatever does happen, it’ll still be better than the Lastman years.

… I mean, that’s a given, right?