by Matthew Hampton
Comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer continued his unorthodox media tour Thursday night with a stop by the Colbert Report studios, and took a bit of a beating from talk show host Stephen Colbert.
Colbert wasn't playing around during the brief interview, asking a handful of pointed questions about Spitzer's fitness for the job and declaring "this ain't Charlie Rose, motherf---er!"
Perhaps the most pointed jab came when the comedian — who plays a bloviating right-wing conservative pundit on the show — asked "shouldn't the job of comptroller go to someone who has shown a modicum of self-comptrol?"
The line got a big reaction from Colbert's home crowd and a bit of a dodge from Spitzer, who said he plans to earn votes "based on the totality of the record. Many years as attorney general, doing things with respect to capital markets that relate directly to the office of comptroller."
Spitzer, as he's been doing since he announced his run, tried to find a happy medium between the humbled, more amicable Spitzer of post-scandal fame, and the hard-nosed former Attorney General and Governor.
Ultimately, though, his answers weren't quite up to snuff for Colbert, who let Spitzer off the hook on his last question: are the American people forgiving of sexual scandals, or is the moral fiber of society just decaying that rapidly?
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
