# "Man of the Year" - is this sceneario even possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 11, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-year-is-this-sceneario-even-possible/376073 "2006-10-11T17:03:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-year-is-this-sceneario-even-possible/376073/21 "2006-10-13T20:34:14Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Actually, Tuttle ran for the House (tagline from the movie: “I’ve spent most of my life in the barn. Now I want to spend a little time in the House”), not the Senate, _in the movie_. He later actually ran for the U.S. Senate IRL and then endorsed Leahy, who won handily. [/QUOTE] My bad. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-year-is-this-sceneario-even-possible/376073/22 "2006-10-13T21:32:32Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] My query is this: Suppose this happened and a retard like Robin Williams were to get on the ballot in all 50 states as an independent and actually won enough states that he should be awarded a majority of the electoral votes. [/quote] Retard? Compared to who? I’d bet good money that Robin Williams is more intelligent than George W. Bush and probably anybody else the Dems could come up with. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-year-is-this-sceneario-even-possible/376073/23 "2006-10-13T21:52:47Z")
[QUOTE=Blalron] Retard? Compared to who? I’d bet good money that Robin Williams is more intelligent than George W. Bush and probably anybody else the Dems could come up with. [/QUOTE] Williams probably hasn’t done near as much coke, either… ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-year-is-this-sceneario-even-possible/376073/24 "2006-10-14T00:25:40Z")
Yes. Oh, yes. Mr. Williams has most _certainly_ done more coke than George W. Bush. Oh, god, he has. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-year-is-this-sceneario-even-possible/376073/25 "2006-10-14T00:42:06Z")
Actually, you only know that he has done a lot of coke; you don’t know that he has done more than GWB unless you were hanging out with GWB at the time that he was doing his lines. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-year-is-this-sceneario-even-possible/376073/26 "2006-10-14T01:18:56Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] Yes. Oh, yes. Mr. Williams has most _certainly_ done more coke than George W. Bush. Oh, god, he has. [/QUOTE] **E-Sabbath** , meet joke. Joke, meet **E-Sabbath**. I’ll just leave you two alone now… ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-year-is-this-sceneario-even-possible/376073/27 "2006-10-14T04:42:28Z")
Sorry, man. I just had this memory of a HBO special Williams did when he was clearly flying. He was fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![FRDE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e68b1a/32.png) [@FRDE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FRDE)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2006, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-year-is-this-sceneario-even-possible/376073/28 "2006-10-14T11:34:26Z")
Actually I think it is quite possible. In some ways a standup comedian is the ultimate actor, they have to act and be quick witted at the same time. The USA has seen that Reagan was an outstanding leader, Arnie looks good and Clint Eastwood seemed fine (albeit as a political extra). As British, I am aware that US presidents can and do use people from outside their parties, so a good comedian could easily say ‘I’ll pick the least talented from all the parties, and we’ll Gump it’ The Electoral College thing is not much of a problem, once people see a potential source of patronage, they reach up to it. The interesting thing is that a good comedian would not have to pay for air time, and people would actually want to see their slots. That would lead to cries of ‘bias’ from opponents, but would be countered by ‘come on stage with me’. Also, digging for dirt on them would be pointless, either it is public domain or they could heap it on themselves. I suppose the clincher is that nowadays politics is high comedy. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-year-is-this-sceneario-even-possible/376073/29 "2006-10-14T17:48:50Z")
It is certainly a tough row to hoe, but an independant could make it. Look how well H. Ross Perot did, in spite of himself. If folks finally see the Republican leadership for the blatant hypocrites that they are, and the Democrats continue to forget in which pocket they left their testicles, a straight-shooting indy might just climb the mountain. And I might win the lottery someday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-of-the-year-is-this-sceneario-even-possible/376073.md?page=1)