20 Best TV Characters of the Past 20 Years (#12-#9)

Published at 7:28 AM on October 29, 2008

By Paste Staff

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20 Best TV Characters of the Past 20 Years

Today, we present the next four characters (#12-#9). Click here for #20-#17 and here for #16-#13.

12. President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen)
The West Wing, NBC 1999-2006

If the United States government had a quarter for every time a West Wing fan sighed longingly at the television and asked why our real president couldn’t be more like this witty, wonky, soulful commander-in-chief, we could erase our $9.6 trillion national debt.

“While you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight Ass club, in this building, when the president stands, nobody sits.”