I AM AN IDIOTIC SEMI-UNDECIDED VOTER: I'm one of those waffling voters who Bill Maher thinks is an idiot. Can't recall the exact quote, but if memory serves Bilious Bill has spewed something like, "Who are these idiots that are still undecided at this point?" Howard "I loved Bush until he threatened MY empire" Stern said something similar the other day, too. And it's not like I'm waffling all that much, since I've made no secret how far Bushward my latest lean is. Still I'll head into tonight's debate with an open mind. I really look forward to watching, to listening, to gaining new insight into the men and their ideas, strategies, poses, and so forth. It's goddamn amazing theater, right? I mean, if my high school reunions were the best bucks I've spent in a long time, this'll for darn sure be some of the most entertaining non-HBO TV I've seen in a fur stretch. Or whatever the saying is. Are. Err...

Not that you wanna hear grumpin', 'specially if you're one of those folks who thinks I'm a hateful idiot for favoring Bush over Kerry, but I'll tell you this: It's not that fun being a Bush supporter. On accounta I've always fancied myself at least partly intellectual, at least somewhat Bohemian, more Bucktown (Chicago) than Buckhead (Atlanta), if you know what I mean. And so that means that not so many of my friends are on my team, you know, and those that are (no offense) are the ones who I've always thought were a little too uptight, right? Not the smokers, not the ones who went to indie-rock shows and rep cinema with me, but the ones in the golf shirts with their cell phones on their hips. Okay, no fair, too broad, etc., but still...even some of my Right-leaning pals wouldn't object too strenuously to that characterization.

My good buddy Mike, the Kerryward dude who I ref'd in the post above, just wrote me back a brilliant little letter. And this guy is so smart and big-hearted that I wonder how I can end up on the opposite side of the aisle from him. From Isaac. From Craig. From Kevin.

My mom agrees with me, which should be more reassuring than it is. (Sorry, Mom!) If I do end up voting for Bush this'll make the first election where we've ever cast the same vote, I think.

My buddy John is going Bush bigtime. He's a former Dade County prosecutor, a self-described "self-righteous Catholic" who couldn't be much more generous, worthy of respect, kind, etc. And tough as nails. This is a guy who doesn't talk too much, just walks the walk. Works harder than anybody you've ever seen, lends a helping hand to anyone who needs it, etc.

Oh, and there's Brian, who's a gentle soul and a Bush guy. He's a kind of thoughtful libertarian, the type who thinks Bush is too tough on social stuff and too lax on fiscal stuff. He'd like Bush to quit worrying about same-sex marriage so much and start figuring out how to choke off gov't spending.

Mike, above, after making several smart, well-reasoned points, summarizes that he's just had a bad feeling about Bush, almost from the get-go, and although he doesn't love Kerry he just can't get past the bad voodoo of Bush. To some extent, I have these same feelings about Kerry. I had a brief flirtation with Dean, way back when I figured I'd surely vote for whoever the Dems put up there. But then Kerry took hold, and prolly largely owing to my post-Clinton distrust of prevaricators and feel-good overthinkers, I really started considering Bush.

Whatever, and too much blah-blah. That's what you get when I get a rare few hours off work and Daddyhood to postulate wireless-style from a Starbucks. So I'll be watching tonight, with some small part of me rooting for one of the guys to melt down so completely that we can all just vote for the obviously more capable bro'. I wanna live in a Purple State in my mind, I guess.