September 16, 2003

One of us

Posted by Henry

The New Yorker reveals that Wesley Clark has outed himself not only as a Democrat, but as a sf fan.

“I wanted to be an astronaut,” Clark said. “That was back when we had a real space program. We all wanted to invade the red planet, right out of Ray Bradbury’s ‘Martian Chronicles.’”

The Oxonian looked puzzled, and Clark asked, “Are you familiar with Ray Bradbury?” He was not. “Not a science-fiction fan? What about ‘Lord of the Rings’? ”

Posted on September 16, 2003 12:20 AM UTC
Comments

I’m thinking of the Simpsons where Bart and Martin are running for class president.

MARTIN: If elected, I promise to have a library with the ABCs of science fiction. Asimov! Bester! Clark!

STUDENT: What about Ray Bradbury?

MARTIN: (crossly) Yes, I’m aware of his work.

Posted by Ted Barlow · September 16, 2003 02:44 AM

Okay, so I’ve been a Dean supporter all this time. . .but given the choice between Dean and a legitimate Sci-Fi fan. . .well, let’s just say it’s a hard choice.

—-JRC

Posted by JRC · September 16, 2003 08:43 PM

Exactly. Back in 1995 when it looked as though Gingrich was going to rule the world, I thought he was an absolute nightmare, but I had this sneaking little hint of “At least he’s in love with the space program.”

I’m still with Dean, but I won’t be crying if Clark takes it away from him.

Posted by Liz · September 17, 2003 12:20 AM

The Washington Post has a photo series that defies permalinking, so you’ll have to search it out. It includes some old high school photos of Clark.

He was in the math club.

Posted by phil · September 17, 2003 08:56 PM

Yes, yes, but where does the candidate stand on the works of Robert Heinlein? The American public wants to know!

Posted by mc_masterchef · September 20, 2003 03:18 PM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.