According to German folklore, doppelgängers are sort of like evil twins, spiritual negatives who look identical to living people but who are actual paranormal presences who walk the earth causing rambunction. Since he lumbered onto the national scene in 2008, I've struggled to determine where I've seen Mitt Romney's doppelgänger before. He reminded me of someone I felt like I knew, but not a friend or a relative. A high school principal from a Disney channel original movie? My college dorm mate's rich dad who offered me a cigar outside of church one time? Then one day, as I was struggling to overcome a summer cold and watching old episodes of Sex and the City (shut up; it's corn syrup gravy for my overworked brain), it hit me: Mitt Romney is Trey MacDougle, the dorky other half of Charlotte York's ill-fated first marriage. And then, I started seeing noticing Mitt Romneys everywhere, all over pop culture. He's been right in front of us this whole time, you guys. Let's dive into the world of Mitt Romneys in popular culture. It's like the whole world is Where's Waldo?
Herman Munster
That's so Romney The awkward robotic mannerisms and square, masculine head shape exhibited by the Frankenstein-y patriarch of the 1960's CBS sitcom are the obvious point of comparison here, but it also works because Paul Ryan has a bit of an adult Eddie Munster vibe. And on a macro level, The Munsters, filmed in old-fashioned black and white, was ultimately cancelled after ratings fell after Batman, which was shot in full color, hit airwaves. Old fashioned idea made obsolete by a public eager to toss out the old in favor of the new? Impossible to not draw a GOP parallel here.
Duck Phillips from Mad Men
That's so Romney! Ok, so the dog thing: according to Romney family legend, Mittens once strapped the family Irish Setter to the roof of the car before taking a trip to Canada. The dog became so frightened on the trip that he shat himself with fear, but rather than letting the dog ride inside of the care, Romney simply got out, hosed the vehicle off, and continued on his merry way. Once the family arrived in Canada, the dog may or may not have run away.
On Mad Men, the perpetually fear grimacing Duck Phillips inherits his dog after his wife divorces him. Also an Irish Setter, but named Chauncey instead of Seamus.
Gordon Gekko
That's so Romney! I think that most of the Democratic National Convention was an attempt to characterize Romney as the antihero of Wall Street and Wall Street 2: 2 Wall, 2 Street — bloodless, greedy, merciless, unscrupulous. The movie's tag line — "Greed is good," is a harsher, less hand holdy version of Mitt's assertion that we should "Celebrate success" like his. All that's missing from candidate Romney is the slicked back hair and 80's suspenders.
Trey Macdougle from Sex and the City
That's so Romney! Wealthy and emotionally stunted, pretty much any character Kyle McLaughlin plays could be considered Romneyesque. Even the in-over-his-head teen from Blue Velvet who finds that ear in the field.
Scrooge McDuck
That's so Romney! The Romney boys always sort of reminded me of Disney's duck triplets Huey, Dewy, and Louie, and Mitt Romney's got himself a money bin as well — it's called the Cayman Islands. Hey-oh!
Edward Lewis, as played by Richard Gere in Pretty Woman
That's so Romney!
Vivian: So what do you do ?
Edward: I buy companies.
Vivian: What kind of companies ?
Edward: Uh, I buy companies that are in financial difficulty.
Vivian: So what do you do with the companies once you buy them ?
Edward: I sell them. It's not an easy thing to do.
Vivian: And you don't make anything and you don't build anything.
Edward: No. No.
Vivian: Here, let me do that. You sell them.
Edward: Well, l... don't sell the whole company; I break it up into pieces...
The whole "you didn't build that" thing goes back decades longer than we thought. Second: what's up with naming a-hole characters "Edward"?
Random laughing stock photo model from ad for erectile dysfunction
That's so Romney! I mean, just look at this picture and tell me you're not wondering what you're supposed to do if you have an erection that lasts for longer than 4 hours.
Other also-rans for the search for Mitt Romney's most apt fictional doppelgänger: Principal Rooney. Mr. Smith from The Matrix meets Principal Skinner from The Simpsons, Troy McClure from The Simpsons, Joffrey from Game of Thrones, and President Bill Pullman from Independence Day (he wishes). Any one we missed? You know what to do.
DISCUSSION
Hands down, it's Joe McCoy from Friday Night Lights.