I Heart Roger Clark

I don't know how Roger does it, but he always manages to find the most interesting (read: bizarro) slice of New York to talk to when he's out on the street doing his thang. Take today for instance. It's Election Day and Rog is in Forest Hills, Queens looking for the man-on-the-street opinion on Alan Hevesi, the Comptroller (a word that drives me insane) embroiled in controversy for failing to re-imburse the city for the tax-payer funded limo trips his mentally ill wife took. I'm just going to jump in here and say that, while Hevesi clearly screwed up by not paying for the trips himself, I can understand why he wanted his depressive/suicidal wife to be driven to and fro in a car service that could potentially offer her some kind of protection. Not that there's anything wrong with Dial 7, but we're talking about a woman who sounds like she's apt to throw herself into traffic, not some tramp who wants a free ride to Bloomingdale's. And when Option #2 for the elected position is Creepy Callaghan - a guy who wears a green bowtie without an ounce of irony - I think Hevesi's expense report issue is the least of our worries. But I digress.

So Clark is chatting up potential voters and his selection includes: a middle-aged white guy in a camo cap and one of those necklaces newly minted frat guys wear who doesn't care about Hevesi because he "always vote(s) Republican" (BIG surprise); a man who had no idea who Hevesi was and, undoubtedly, what the heck a Comptroller is (maybe he too is just irritated by the word); and a gentleman wearing a striking amount of lip gloss who is "not for political corruption." Oh good. This is the kind of random sample to which one should probably add more than a few plus or minus percentage points. But this is why we love The Clark: he's a magnet for the oddly loveable wallflower; the ones who didn't get scratched into the Statue of Liberty's book. He's our goofy beacon of light and I can raise my hand to this because I'm sure.