The Real-Life Political Equivalents of the Cast of "Veep"

Real-life politicians have praised Veep as the most accurate of the numerous TV shows that delve into Washington’s legislative landscape. This is pretty hilarious to hear, but it's also a pretty depressing revelation. If politics works anything like show creator Armando Iunucci’s take on Capitol Hill, no wonder gridlock is the order of the day.

To celebrate the return of our favorite political satire, we decided to take a look at how Washington’s flesh-and-blood politicians stacked up to their fictional HBO counterparts. You won't be surprised to hear it didn’t take us very long to find real life congressmen and senators who were perfect doppelgangers for the satirical wonks on Veep. Get ready to have even less faith in our nation’s political process with The Real-Life Political Equivalents of the Cast of Veep.

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Unlike Veep's fictional POTUS, President Obama has picked grizzled hardchargers as his Chiefs of Staff. Fictional Chief of Staff Ben Cafferty reminds us more of famed Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod than Rahm Emmanuel or Denis McDonough.

Axe is a brilliant political mind, but life in the Washington fast lane has taken its toll. Though there were no reports of Axe hiding in a supply closet, A New York Times profile discussed how the race had changed the man: "Mr. Axelrod's friends worry about the toll of his job—citing his diet (cold-cut enriched), his weight (20 pounds heavier than at the start of the presidential campaign), sleep deprivation (five fitful hours a night) ..." After the 2012 campaign, Axelrod left active political life to establish the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago.

Judging by how Cafferty has gotten on the last couple of seasons, we imagine the fictional operative isn't far behind Axelrod in his movement towards the West Wing's exit.

Sue and Hillz are at radically different ends of the political spectrum, but they take precisely the same amount of shit. When an interviewer asked Mrs. Clinton what designers she preferred in an interview, she responded with, "Would you ever ask a man that question?"

We don't need to list Clinton's no b.s. credentials, as they are already public record. However, Feministing put together an amazing set of GIFs from Clinton's recent appearance at hearings on Benghazi, and they are definitely worth a look. If you don't see any Sue there, you aren't looking very hard.

It's hard to find a political equivalent of Gary that is actually in the national news. We're sure that there is some Leviathan-toting doppelganger on the Hill somewhere, but if we knew his name, then he wouldn't be a perfect Gary, now would he?

Absent a nameless lackey, we'll go with Tim Ryan, Ohio Democrat. Gary tends to keep his cool in the midst of Meyer's hotheaded staffers thanks to his natural demeanor. Ryan finds his peace through mindful meditation. The Ohio Democrat leads Washington's "Quiet Time Caucus," a weekly meeting where lawmakers sit in silence together for a half-hour. Some men find their zen within the pockets of the Leviathan, others seek peace in spare quiet moments.

Mike McLintock and Barney Frank have found extremely different levels of success in their career, but they got there through a similar approach. During his tenure in Congress, Frank was known for his quick wit. He claimed he had trouble reading the Starr Report because it was "too much reading about heterosexual sex." Frank's peers admired his wit and intelligence while he was in office. A survey named him "funniest" House member three times and "most eloquent" twice.

Of course, McLintock uses humor to numb the pain of his meaningless job while Frank employs humor as a weapon, but they both understand the power of a good laugh.

OK, so Nate Silver isn't a politician. But he is a real world figure who shares Kent's intense love of statistics. If you've ever read any of Silver's work at 538, you could certainly imagine him saying something like, "I just crunched the numbers, and right now, they taste pretty bland to me."

The big difference between Kent and Silver is that Kent is actually a partisan. Liberals love Silver for his NPR friendly articles and for predicting an Obama win in 2012, but the Left is starting to love him a lot less after his midterm predictions.

We decided we couldn't choose Jonah's real life counterpart just by finding the most sycophantic politicians. There are just too many. So, we went with a politician who has that unique Jonah blend of an inflated sense of self-importance and detachment from reality. Ted Cruz, he of reading Green Eggs and Ham during his non-filibuster, fits the bill quite nicely.

During the government shutdown, members of his own party criticized Cruz's out-of-touch and hair-brained approach to legislation. Mr. Cruz may have influence among the radical fringe of the Tea Party, but in the wider political world, he is a Jonah.

Here are a couple things to get you going: In 2008, McHenry referred to an active duty American soldier in Iraq as a "two bit security guard." And here's a short clip of McHenry calling Elizabth Warren a liar after he moved a meeting just to inconvenience her.

These are just two of the dick moves McHenry has pulled in under a decade in office. There are probably a number of politicians on both sides of the aisle that evoke images of Furlong, Veep's resident douchebag, but McHenry certainly fits the bill.