In a battle of fictional Democratic Presidential candidates, who wins? Jed Bartlett or Palmer? After having watching the entire 24 DVD last week, my vote is for Palmer. Curiously, I stand by this even though I admittedly no essentially nothing about his positions on important issues from the show. The only thing you know is that he has princilples that he stands by strongly and he seems to do well in crisis situations. And he seems less pretentious than Bartlett (is it one or two “t’s”?..I don’t know).
Palmer, because to me it matters more what the person is like than what they hold as political views. He would handle a crisis and intense situation better.
I think Palmer has a stronger personality. He’s not afraid to piss people off in order to take a strong stand on something. Don’t get me wrong: I like Bartlett; I like his human flaws and frailties, but he always seems like he’s afraid of hurting someone’s feelings. While that’s an admirable trait some of the time, it’s not what you want in our country’s leader.
Also, I’ve always had a soft spot for John Goodman.
HAH! I was discussing this the other day (with myself).
My vote’s for Palmer. I enjoy Bartlett’s character a hell of a lot more, but as President, I feel he’s a bit indecisive on the big issues. Palmer, meanwhile, has power written all over him. He speaks with authority, yet he’s got so much grace and intelligence to go along with a pure conscience. The character of David Palmer is more hero-like compared to Bartlett and I think that’s what people want.
Well, as a solid Republican, I shouldn’t vote for either. But if I HAD to pick, I’d take Barlet, because Palmer has got to be the worst judge of character who ever lived!
Jed Bartlet may be an annoyingly pompous liberal, but at least he surrounds himself with smart, capable, idealistic people from whom he commands intense loyalty.
Palmer, on the other hand, keeps surrounding himself with dishonest, disloyal schemers, and never has any clue that anything is wrong until they’ve put a knife in his back! I mean, even his own WIFE is evil, and he had no idea!
I’ll break the trend long enough to put in one vote for Bartlet. The variety of situations he’s faced gives me a bit more feel for the range and depth of his character. No telling how Palmer might behave in less stressful situations. You might make a case that if things were going smoothly he’d turn things over to his wife.
Bartlet has dropped the ball enough to make me nervous but, all told, he’s a more reliable man to make consistently moral choices.