DBWI: What if Kelsey Grammer was an actor?

[bonachevski]

After making this thread I rewatched Grammer's keynote speech from the 2004 RNC and I'm realizing how passionate of a speaker he is.

McCain did worse than expected in 2000, so when 2004 came around the GOP needed to build energy around Huckabee so they wouldn't get crushed by Gore's popularity. Of course, they lost anyway, but Grammer's speech really stands out.

That said, he definitely has the emotional capacity to be a dramatic actor, but I don't see him making it as a comedic actor.

 

[mudhead]

Stage & television. He does not have the right face & hair for the big screen.

That said, he definitely has the emotional capacity to be a dramatic actor, but I don't see him making it as a comedic actor.

I think he'd have been great as NY's DA in Law & Order, replacing Steven Hill (Adam Schiff) in 2000. Or if US TV ever plans a variant of the British House of Cards, he would convince as Francis Urquhart.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Not likely as a comic, they guy has much to dry a humor delivery.

 

[Jonathan]

A wiki box of President Grammer and the 2008 victory

 

[Maplekey]

Huh, Grammer didn't win Oregon in '08 after all. Looks like my memory's faulty.

Anyway, here's the 2000 and 2004 electoral maps, because why not?

 

[Deleted member 9338]

We in the GOP worked hard for President Grammer in Pennsylvania, but big city turn beat out our suburban and rural strongholds. Pennsylvania is so hard to turn for the GOP.

Is the wiki map correct, I thought Grammer took Oregon?

 

[Maplekey]

Looking over Grammer's Wikibox, I'm astonished that his private life wasn't his Achilles heel. He managed to get the GOP nomination after a divorce and an annulled marriage, then divorced and remarried while in office, in the same year! You just know that there was some infidelity going on there, and given how the Republicans went berserk trying to bring down Clinton over the Lewinsky affair, Grammer was damn lucky that the Democrats went easy on him. Still, it nearly cost him reelection, and Kasich getting elected last year was less about carrying forward Grammer's torch and more about the nation not being ready to go back to the Democrats again after the Clinton-Gore epoch.

 

[bonachevski]

Something that's just now occurring to me. Dunn, in addition to being the first female Vice President, was the first Vice President to die in office since James Sherman, almost 100 years ago in 1912. That makes then-representative Kasich the first Vice Presidential appointment since Ford appointed Rockefeller.

Anyway, here's a poster from 2008. I'm pretty sure the campaign didn't make it, but I remember seeing it everywhere that year.

 

[theg*ddam*hoi2fan]

I'd say his biggest black mark really. There wasn't too much US adventurism overseas and he kept good relations with Europe and Canada, but yeah, definately a big black mark in my book.

I'd agree. Sure: that policy is basically the reason that 'gay flight' entered the popular vocabulary. A lot of LGBT people have left Red States because they honestly feel that there's no prospect for change in their home states. Which of course extreme social conservatives in those states are cackling with glee over - the way they see it, they're winning

Interesting you should mention foreign adventurism. Grammer...in many ways, he was about the scalpel rather than the sledgehammer. On the one hand, he didn't commit to any major military actions and remained committed to disengagement from Iraq (well, until Da'esh became a thing...) but he carried out a lot more drone strikes. And then there was the Philippines: a lot of Special Forces operators and Marines got committed to assist the Filipino government with putting down Islamic terrorism in the South.

 

[Jonathan]

Is the wiki map correct, I thought Grammer took Oregon?

I am afraid so, although Dunn campaigned hard on the west coast she was unable to break the bloc, with voters in Oregon havinh a strong penchant for advancing the protection of civil liberties and individual freedoms, liberal values that they felt Grammer couldn't hold. The state once leaned Republican, like most of the Pacific Northwest. It only went Democratic once from 1948 to 1984--during Lyndon Johnson's 44-state landslide of 1964. However, the state has gone Democratic in every election since 1988, and along with California it is reckoned as forming a solid bloc of blue states along the Pacific Coast. Grammer was found to have commented saying that oregon should just join california and be done with it.

Looking over Grammer's Wikibox, I'm astonished that his private life wasn't his Achilles heel. He managed to get the GOP nomination after a divorce and an annulled marriage, then divorced and remarried while in office, in the same year! You just know that there was some infidelity going on there, and given how the Republicans went berserk trying to bring down Clinton over the Lewinsky affair, Grammer was damn lucky that the Democrats went easy on him. Still, it nearly cost him reelection, and Kasich getting elected last year was less about carrying forward Grammer's torch and more about the nation not being ready to go back to the Democrats again after the Clinton-Gore epoch.

Grammer was able to paint his personal life in a better life than the box explains. Having shown that voters in Florida didn't mind his marital life the GOP saw his policies as the driving force they needed to get out of a 16 year dry spell.

ooc I didn't know how much of his married life was caused by show business or simple personality

 

[dandan_noodles]

It's interesting to think what kinds of parts he'd get as an actor; I don't know if I'd buy him as a leading man, but he could definitely be a top flight character actor, especially with his cerebral style.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

I'd agree. Sure: that policy is basically the reason that 'gay flight' entered the popular vocabulary. A lot of LGBT people have left Red States because they honestly feel that there's no prospect for change in their home states. Which of course extreme social conservatives in those states are cackling with glee over - the way they see it, they're winning
...

I live in one of those states, Indiana. While the fiscal and social conservatives are standing around congratulating each other the state has one of the lowest proportion of military retirees due to tax and benefits policy, has its infrastructure crumbling, has one of the highest proportion of rustbelt cities, has high drug abuse, declining eduction...

 

[Charles RB]

He has played himself a few times, remember, and he's not that great an actor. In that Simpsons episode where the family go to Florida and Governor Grammar tries to kill Bart for annoying him, he's a bit bland in that and that's his best performance I've seen. Probably unfair to him, if he was an actor full time he'd be practicing the craft and getting experience rather than reading off an SNL cue card.

he didn't commit to any major military actions and remained committed to disengagement from Iraq (well, until Da'esh became a thing...)

That may count against him in the long run: staying "hands off" outside of the no-fly zone when Saddam died and the country fell apart just meant the Iranians, Saudis, and Turks got involved, and out of that mess we end up with Daesh and a reversal of all the gains made against Islamist terror groups since 2001.

 

[steamboy]

I live in one of those states, Indiana. While the fiscal and social conservatives are standing around congratulating each other the state has one of the lowest proportion of military retirees due to tax and benefits policy, has its infrastructure crumbling, has one of the highest proportion of rustbelt cities, has high drug abuse, declining eduction...

Can I suggest that you get out if you can, I've a friend who lives in Ohio and he says things are going quite well there and its also a LGBT/Trans friendly state. Admittedly part of that was that several big league sports teams threatened to pull out of the state and go elsewhere if the State didn't go gay friendly, and it was basically economic blackmail but still...

As for that time he appeared on SNL I'd say he was being deliberately stiff and firm. He came on in a black suit and the music and background lighting added to the effect. And at 6' tall he's got a lot of physical presence when dolled up for it. The humor was very dry and snarky and I think it confused you lot because that's more British humor than American

And whilst we know his views on gay marraige (basically not against but not super for) i'd like to say that his heavy pro-choice leanings helped win a fair chunk of women voters. So basically he's more a traditional fiscal conservative, (fortunately) not a social one. Yes he made some, what I consider dumb/dickish decisions, Gay marrage and Cruz being the biggest ones, but he wasn't BAD either. He said he'd get out of Iraq and he did, he said he'd work with the Paris climate accords and did despite opposition from within his own party (and is probably why he put Cruz on SCOTUS to get the rights support) and he did more funding for Nasa which is all good.

 

[Jonathan]

President of United States
1993-2001: Bill Clinton / Albert "Al" Gore (Democratic)
2001-2009: Albert "Al" Gore / John Kerry (Democratic)
2009-2010: Kelsey Grammer / Jennifer Dunn (Republican)
2010: Kelsey Grammer / Vacant (Republican)
2010-2017: Kelsey Grammer / John Kasich (Republican)

Defeated ticket
1992: George H. W. Bush / Dan Quayle (Republican)
1996: Bob Dole / Jack Kemp (Republican)
2000: John McCain / Lindsey Graham (Republican)
2004: Mike Huckabee / Donald Rumsfield (Republican)
2008: Hillary Clinton / John Edwards (Democratic)
2012: John Kerry / Gary Hart (Democratic)
2016: Bob Graham / Dennis Kucinich (Democratic)

 

[Jonathan]

Cabinet
Secretary of State: John McCain
Secretary of Defence: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Secretary of the Treasury: Mitt Romney
Secretary of Interior: George W. Bush

 

[JohnR]

I think, given his wonderful voice, and his shall we say, less than movie-star looks, that he would have been a lot better on Radio. The way he worked those radio talk shows in his first campaign showed he would have been really good presenting his own talk-show!

 

[Maplekey]

SNIP

OOC: Couple of issues here:

• We already established Mike Huckabee as the 2004 GOP nominee
• Arnie has zero qualifications to be SecDef. Playing a soldier in a lot of movies doesn't count.
• All four slots on the 2012 and 2016 Democratic tickets are filled with people who are 70+ at the time of the election, which stretches suspension of disbelief, IMO. The only reason Trump and Bernie are taken as seriously as they are despite being 70+ is because they offer something radically different to the status quo. Don't take this as a personal slight, but the Kerry/Hart and and Graham/Kucinich tickets are the electoral equivalent of bland oatmeal.

 

[Jonathan]

OOC: Couple of issues here:

• We already established Mike Huckabee as the 2004 GOP nominee
• Arnie has zero qualifications to be SecDef. Playing a soldier in a lot of movies doesn't count.
• All four slots on the 2012 and 2016 Democratic tickets are filled with people who are 70+ at the time of the election, which stretches suspension of disbelief, IMO. The only reason Trump and Bernie are taken as seriously as they are despite being 70+ is because they offer something radically different to the status quo. Don't take this as a personal slight, but the Kerry/Hart and and Graham/Kucinich tickets are the electoral equivalent of bland oatmeal.

Forgot about Mike Huckabee as 2004, changed it.

In TTL Arnie came to america and went into the army rather than movies being a four star general based in california.

aren't most tickets filled with stuffy old people? which faces would others recommend for offices.
- Obama too quiche and would be cool to see him raise through senate.
- Corey Booker, 47-year-old New Jersey senator?
- Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi all fit the over 70 mark.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

Can I suggest that you get out if you can, I've a friend who lives in Ohio and he says things are going quite well there ....

A bit snarky don't you think? I live there, not just a occasional visitor. The state has a strong social and fiscal conservative population. As I wrote before veterans support, wage support, health care support, infrastructure, education, are all not only crumbling from neglect but actively being dismantled through constant state budget cuts. I sit on the boards of two social service organizations and am very aware of who in the area a supports veterans and who among the politicians and wealthy works to reduce expenditures for support.

Anyway; to get back to topic. Had Grammar turned to acting & been successful at it, is there any reason to think he might not have followed the Reagan pattern and Launched a political career like Regan, Franken, and others have?