BETTER THAN TOSSING A COIN: Wise man Dave at just procrastinating points out a cool site that allows you to take a "where you stand in the issues" test and then determines who, by dint of your views, you ought to be voting for on November 2. Here are my results:

1. Your ideal theoretical candidate. (100%)
2. Bush, President George W. - Republican (69%)
3. Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (63%)
4. Badnarik, Michael - Libertarian (40%)
5. Peroutka, Michael - Constitution Party (26%)
6. Cobb, David - Green Party (16%)
7. Nader, Ralph - Independent (16%)
8. Brown, Walt - Socialist Party (13%)

As you can see, according to this test I should be a bit confused. Kerry and Bush are not far apart for me. Interesting to see it like this.

You know, one of the amorphous and juvenile things driving me toward W. is the recklessness of many liberals in my life. Today two of my colleagues, both smart and kind people, were really enjoying the story about how some idiot tried to run down Katherine Harris. I was like, That's terrible. And they were like, Not from where we sit. And they didn't seem to be kidding at all.

Then there's all the hateful rhetoric and bumper stickers about Bush, painting him as somehow akin to Saddam or Adolf. There's the really mean idiots who start yelling at me when they hear I'm considering voting for Bush, as if I've somehow become less human before their eyes. There's the idiots like Whoopee Goldberg and Michael Moore and so many other grandstanding celebs who I just want to be quiet. There are so many Lefties I want to vote against I can barely see straight sometimes. I want to vote for kindness, for thoughtfulness, and for tough realism in the face of the real threat of global terror. Although I believe Bush is wrong when he wants to amend the Constitution to prevent same-sex unions, I believe Kerry is lying when he pretends to be some pious Catholic who wants to preserve marriage, kill terrorists, etc. I think Bush is wrong sometimes -- often, even -- but honest. I fear he's incompetent, which scares me. On the other hand I believe Kerry is also wrong sometimes, and dishonest. And I'm not so sure he's competent either. How anyone can see this as such a black/white choice is beyond me.