General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhich politician are you most like?
Last edited Tue Jun 25, 2013, 07:00 PM - Edit history (2)
Which politician/world leader exhibits character traits that you yourself posses. I don't mean ideology here but rather personality.
Edit: Since no one was voting for Angela Merkel, I substituted Kristen Gillibrand. I understand you all want to vote for E. Warren and B. Sanders, which is why I didn't include them. It would skew the poll since this is supposed to be about personality rather than ideology.
5 votes, 3 passes | Time left: Unlimited | |
Silvio Berlusconi | |
0 (0%) |
|
Vladimir Putin | |
1 (20%) |
|
Kristen Gillibrand | |
0 (0%) |
|
Barack Obama | |
0 (0%) |
|
Joe Biden | |
2 (40%) |
|
Nancy Pelosi | |
1 (20%) |
|
Chris Christie | |
0 (0%) |
|
Al Gore | |
1 (20%) |
|
Olympia Snow | |
0 (0%) |
|
Shelia Jackson Lee | |
0 (0%) |
|
3 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided. | |
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Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll |
Deep13
(39,154 posts)try to do so at any rate. Every politician has a constructed public identity calculated to insure confidence in that person.
SamKnause
(13,114 posts)None of the above.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)I saw a thing on Berlusconi on TV and it reminded me of someone, but of course no one probably thinks of themselves that way.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)but my sense of humor is better.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)He's a funny guy.
JI7
(89,283 posts)but if someone is really an asshole to me i can turn into Christie . but it would take a lot more to set me off than what sets christie off.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)but he has too much of it, you're right.
Union Scribe
(7,099 posts)so I'm tempted to say Putin.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)And that is the unfortunate reality of being a politician. To win means catering to the idiots and knuckle draggers. Which means oversimplifying irreducibly complex realities and making things up to make them feel good about themselves.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)I feel so uncomfortable lying it's all over my face. I think the trick is they convince themselves they are telling the truth. Romney was the most pathological example of it in recent memory.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)But then probably Politics isn't the best career to pick.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)fortunately men have a harder time reading women, for some reason.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Although with poker sometimes it's more helpful to look like you're lying when you're actually telling the truth.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)The real trick is not to drink very much while you play.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Then "very much" is relative.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)One of my ex-boyfriends said he liked me a lot better when I was drunk.
But no, I do stupid stuff with the game because I don't drink often enough to hold my liquor.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)That used to be me, too-- I got ridiculous.. particularly when the alcohol was mixed with more herbal medicines. However, my misspent youth was a long time ago.
I was fortunate that back in my drinking days it was not often combined with gambling, at least not at the same time. Too hard to juggle multiple vices simultaneously.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)after I'd drunk too much because I didn't realize my double pair had been counterfitted. That's just stupid.
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)And the only people I ever enjoy lying too are the powers that be.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)BainsBane
(53,112 posts)though Berlusconi prefers them very young.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Plus Monica Bellucci would never have anything to do with him, I'm sure.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)This is her husband
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Plus if it wasn't for her, those last two Matrix movies would have nothin'.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Just thought I'd let you know.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)guy around. Maybe I'm not as "stiff" as he was back in the day, but I do unfortunately share some of his awkwardness and lack of charisma.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)if not more so.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)I understand why he didn't, but I was disappointed nonetheless.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)And I've been around for a while.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)I always like reading your posts.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)BainsBane
(53,112 posts)I'll correct that.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)in history?
Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)Not that I'm a war geek. You just end up doing what your boss does, most of the times.
While studying, though, my focus was on 19th century history - US, Japan, Germany as well as medieval public finance. I hope that wasn't too specific
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)I'm trained as a historian of Latin America with a research field in Brazilian slavery.
Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)Although arguing in nuances is not the easiest thing to do on the internet, let alone DU.
I've always enjoyed your posts and from now on I'll think of you as someone to whom I am "professionally" related.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)defacto7
(13,485 posts)BainsBane
(53,112 posts)defacto7
(13,485 posts)and if I were running for president, it would probably be like Henry's campaign.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)I have lots of friends in (East) Germany.
I enjoy nature - preferrebly while not wearing a shirt.
I would love to have a Super Bowl ring even though I didn't earn one.
I don't take dissent lightly.
No one cares about my wife.
I speak german and am fluent in english.
I enjoy wrestling bears.
Case closed.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Can you do a Skype feed to DU for the bear wrestling sometime?
Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)wrestling with bears is a no-spectator sport. I wish it were otherwise but I don't get to make the rules (which would be one essential difference between me and Vladimir, n'est-ce pas?)
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)bigwillq
(72,790 posts)BainsBane
(53,112 posts)especially Ralph.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)datasuspect
(26,591 posts)putin. definitely.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)datasuspect
(26,591 posts)he's DREAMY!
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)datasuspect
(26,591 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)But I think she and I have a lot of personality "stuff" in common.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)booley
(3,855 posts)Didn't see him. So chose "pass"
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Everyone would have picked him. It's supposed to be based on personality traits, not ideology. He would have skewed the poll.
booley
(3,855 posts)just saying.
cali
(114,904 posts)BainsBane
(53,112 posts)AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)I am not sure I entirely lean in his direction, after all I suppose I have my own personal issues that I think are important. Well, is this not true of most people? Or not?
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)not ideology.
AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)I mean, you would have to live with a guy to know him that well, right? I don't know...this is all too confusing.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)which you think you might be most like. So we perceive them as having certain
personality traits based on how they appear to the public. Christie and Gore, for example, are very different. You could imagine they'd be very different at home too.
AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)You could read a ton of newspaper stories about a certain politician. They way they seem in public , and of course in private you have no idea. So if you say, well..I tend to be like.. Politician A... you are only seeing what the newspapers are reporting to you, or what a news broadcaster might say about them. (Then of course the difference between what someone from Fox News might say vs someone from MSNBC.)... All of which...might be totally incorrect. How can you base what a person is like by information that might be false?
We all have characters in stories that we admire. In a book or movie, you see them as they are presented. There is a huge difference in how a character is presented over how a real life person might appear to be. You have almost first hand knowledge of the character where as with a real person in the news, you know next to nothing.. even with all their news coverage.
Again, I will say I really like Howard Dean, but do I picture myself as Howard Dean like? How can I even answer that.. when I really don't live under his roof.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)You never know what people are really like. I had a student who seemed like the nicest guy with ended up taking his ex girlfriend hostage and killing her parents before killing himself.
AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)There is that. I mean here is a good example. Lets take a fictional character like Captain James T. Kirk. If you are a die hard treker, you have seen everything William Shatner ever did with the character. You may have read a ton of fictional books about Captain Kirk in Star Trek stories (all written by different authors, who have their own take on who James T. Kirk is or will be.) You might form a general opinion about Kirk and how he would do things given the opportunity.
Now on the other hand... there is William Shatner. How much do you really know about the guy? You can know his work, and maybe seen him in interviews.. but you personally don't know much about how he is. HE could maybe tell you his opinion about who James T. Kirk is, but its a one sided view, because he has preformed the character, though has not written the scripts..as the writers have.
The thing is, you can say, I want to strive to be like (in your own mind) Captain Kirk and you would have your own view of him, but it would be harder to say...I want to strive to be William Shatner. Most of your information is largely missing!
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)because I prefer Picard. Though I was always in love with Spock.
AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)I can say I have always loved all the characters, from the Original Series to the rest of them. I could even say I am a Roddenberry fan, and actually got to meet him. (I was young at the time..but I do remember him.) But the point I was trying to make is, its a difficult task to find some one you feel you are like... personality wise. There are people you can strive to be like, as they set fine examples.. but to be just like them..is almost a impossible task.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)It's not meant to so absolute or complete. This is just for laughs anyway.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)Otherwise, maybe Jim Hightower
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)I actually had a temp job in Perry's office through Kelly Services for a couple of weeks back when he was Ag commissioner.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)Hightower was actually making organic viable in the state until ChemFarm Perry was installed and stopped all organic subsidies.
So, what's the "dirt" on working in Perry's office back then?
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)I organized some old files but I don't recall anything about them. I made some huge typos on some letters. Someone stole a wrong out of my purse.
Before that I had done filing for a predatory mortgage lender in Austin. That left a greater impression. I filed foreclosure documents, and they had given loans in poor African-American neighborhoods where their income was just above the value of the mortgage. This was long before any of the mortgage scandals, around 96.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)(pipeline designer/mapper) so I won't go into those details
But I'm glad a little stint serving divorce papers for a lawyer friend was short-lived. As in, I served some papers once. It wasn't worth the fifty bucks. I guess the people that do that kind of thing have to learn how to "detach" in order to have a conscience later. It was too much for me to do more than once.
I guess I'd probably have felt the same way working for a mortgage lender like that. I hope you didn't have to stay with them long.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)I wasn't there more than a month.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)Just sayin'
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Like my alter ego is Jason Bourne, while I couldn't be further from it.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)I'm probably closer to Jimmy Carter.
Though I doubt you'll give me credit for that one either, so I might as well stick with Rasputin.
Although in real life the elected officials I admire most are Booth Gardner and Gary Locke. Both super nice guys.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Biden is slightly more popular, but they have very different personalities. Gore seems closer to Carter. Carter would have been a good one to include though.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)BainsBane
(53,112 posts)No one seems to want to pick her, though she is the most powerful woman in the world.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)I would love to be as smart, personable and eloquent.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Had to leave Warren and Sanders out. People would vote on ideology rather than personality. That was a deliberate choice.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)The TED talk she gave long before running for office, for instance, was outstanding.
Personality wise, I would think she'd be on a very short list of politicians worth emulating.
Stinky The Clown
(67,838 posts)Except for the hair.
His is better.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)When do you get out of the joint?
MADem
(135,425 posts)MISTAH SPEEEEEEEE-KAH.....MISTAH SPEEEEEEE-KAAAAAAH.....
BEAM.
ME.
UP!!!!!!!!!!!!
MADem
(135,425 posts)BainsBane
(53,112 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)I remember him from Rowan and Martin, but I don't recall him ever putting up a presidential campaign....
Of course, I was out of the country for long periods when he was in his heyday, so maybe I missed it.
Or maybe someone's confusing him with Pat...?
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)I assumed he played a politician on TV.
MADem
(135,425 posts)I remember Pat Paulsen--he was the perennial campaigner, and often a better pick than the candidates....but I missed Henry Gibson's effort, if he made one!
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)I was alive at the time, but I was very young. I do remember my parents watching Laugh In, but I was too young to get any of it.
Dash87
(3,220 posts)lpbk2713
(42,772 posts)Certainly not perfect but he meant well more often than not.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)lpbk2713
(42,772 posts)but I think you might have something there. I admire Joe immensely as well.
Brother Buzz
(36,490 posts)Assuming either the Left Wing or the Right Wing gained control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles. - Pat Paulsen
I'm often asked why I travel around the country talking politics. Is it for humanitarian reasons, community spirit, or is it for the money, the limousines or the girls? The answers are: no, no, yes yes yes!
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Buns_of_Fire
(17,210 posts)If he decided to run again, I'd vote for him. I know he's no longer with us, but I'd vote for him anyway.
hunter
(38,341 posts)I will conquer this planet with Flower Power.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)Beautiful!
hunter
(38,341 posts)I took this photograph with a toy digital camera I found in a junk store.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)PennsylvaniaMatt
(966 posts)When I take on a right-winger, I'm fierce....and then I finish it off with a shit eating grin!