# Best Fictional Politicians **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897 "2010-12-31T01:02:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/21 "2010-12-31T15:12:43Z")
Andrew Shepard ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/22 "2010-12-31T15:51:08Z")
Senator/Emperor/Sith Lord Palpatine. Fought a war against himself, took over the republic and destroyed the Jedi. and he would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for that meddling kid… and his dad. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/23 "2010-12-31T15:52:34Z")
Laura Roslin. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/24 "2010-12-31T15:55:48Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Worst: Jake Featherston ..and I’m here to tell you the truth! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/25 "2010-12-31T18:00:58Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Senator (and then President) David Palmer. Accept no substitute. Didn’t America get nuked like thirteen times under his presidency? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/26 "2010-12-31T18:46:12Z")
Absolute rulers/monarchs don’t count as “politicians,” right? Anyways, any votes for [John Sheridan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sheridan_%28Babylon_5%29)? ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/27 "2010-12-31T18:47:33Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Vetinari. Yup, he’s Pratchett’s best character, and Pratchett is one of the best character creator evaaaah. One that I really like is Tommy Carcetti from “The Wire”. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/28 "2010-12-31T20:13:06Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Absolute rulers/monarchs don’t count as “politicians,” right? Shakespeare’s Richard III certainly counts as a “politician,” both before and after his accession. Especially [the Ian McKellen version,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_(1995_film)) with the uniformed mass rallies with boar flags everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/29 "2010-12-31T21:01:55Z")
_The Postman._ Considering where he started and in what world – and considering his own persistent reluctance to play the role (of politician, not postman) – how many politicians can claim such astonishing success? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/30 "2010-12-31T22:25:37Z")
Plantagenet Palliser, Duke of Omnium ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/31 "2010-12-31T22:33:33Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Laura Roslin. Being president of the Colonies isn’t what it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/32 "2010-12-31T23:46:56Z")
New York DA Adam Schiff from _“Law & Order”_ - “Tough case. Don’t know how you’re going to handle it. Good night.” ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/33 "2010-12-31T23:50:52Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > New York DA Adam Schiff from _“Law & Order”_ - “Tough case. Don’t know how you’re going to handle it. Good night.” You did good this time, Jack. Take the rest of the week off! Adam, it’s Friday. So it is. \ ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/34 "2011-01-01T18:26:50Z")
The Prez from Independence Day was good with the speechifying. I like the Prez on The Event for some reason. And of course it’s always fun to have Presidents that try to be bipartisan like the above, Geena Davis’ female Prez in Commander-in-Chief, and the future Prez from Jack & Bobby (although I thought it silly that he was clergy). And of course, Zaphod Beeblebrox. I have deeply disliked almost all of the Tv and film UFP Presidents. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/35 "2011-01-01T22:11:56Z")
> [@](#): > > The Postman. Considering where he started and in what world – and considering his own persistent reluctance to play the role (of politician, not postman) – how many politicians can claim such astonishing success? Well, consider the world of RED SON: Kal-El’s rocket landed in a wheat field in [del]Kansas[/del] the Ukraine, and the Superman-backed Soviet Union has thus had a pretty easy time over the decades of making the domino theory play out damn near everywhere but the United States – which ain’t really that united any more, since maybe a third of 'em have already seceded while the rest pretty much have their hands full with famine and riots and thus and such. And so cue President Luthor, who didn’t much want the job but took office in January of 2001. _“By February he had doubled the standard of living for every American, and he doubled it again in March. April saw a return to full employment. By May he had eradicated unemployment in the thirty-four states still under White House control.”_ By the end of his first term, he’d managed to get rid of Superman, thereby winning re-election with roughly a one hundred percent approval rating on his way to uniting the planet under an international government made up of artists and scientists and philosophers. ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/36 "2011-01-02T04:35:42Z")
Gaius Baltar ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/37 "2011-01-02T06:47:26Z")
President Bartlett. I’ve actually wondered why some candidate doesn’t just hire Aaron Sorkin to ghost write for him/her on the campaign trail. Re: President Roslin…sorry, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want my country being led by a President that makes her decisions via drug induced hallucinations. That woman was scary and complaints regarding her fitness to lead were extremely valid. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/38 "2011-01-02T16:15:56Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Vetinari. My vote as well. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/39 "2011-01-02T16:26:23Z")
> [@Cyberhwk](#): > > Re: President Roslin…sorry, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want my country being led by a President that makes her decisions via drug induced hallucinations. That woman was scary and complaints regarding her fitness to lead were extremely valid. And Winston Churchill was a bipolar alcoholic. They were still the right people in the right place at the right time. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897/40 "2011-01-02T17:19:25Z")
Robert De Niro’s president in “Machete” stands out now. Betty White’s and Charles Laughton’s characters in “Advise and Consent” Ransom Stoddard in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” Hamilton Burger as DA in ‘Perry Mason’ – and Raymond Burr as Chief Ironside – maybe they don’t quite count as politicians, but their jobs have large political components. Also the DA from “Angel Face” – wasn’t that Burr too? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fictional-politicians/565897.md?page=3)