I’m one of those people who’s voting for Kerry because, at least, he’s not Bush. There are many things I don’t like about Kerry (and even more about Edwards), but there are things about Bush and Cheney that I consider totally unforgivable, and I will vote for (almost) anyone who can get them out of office.
But I find myself acting as if I’m in total agreement with Kerry and Edwards, unwilling to voice my disagreements with them. I’m just so afraid that an “undecided” voter will take what I say and vote for Bush. So I just keep my mouth shut when not criticizing Bush.
This is not like me at all, and I can’t think of any other election year when I felt this way. Anyone else experiencing this reluctance to criticize your candidate?
I’m the opposite. I’m feeling that if I say something remotely critical of Bush that someone will start calling me a “Bush-hater” so I throw in something critical of Kerry and then I smack Nader around a little.
Nobody knows who Badnarik is, so I don’t have to beat him up.
I find myself doing the same thing, but it’s more because my parents and sisters are such avid fans of Bush (still think Iraq had WMD, blame the liberal media, etc.) and it’s fun to tick 'em off. There are things I disagree with Kerry on, and I’d like to see a strong Libertarian showing, but I’d rather get Bush out of office than make a point by voting third-party. If there continues to be a Republican majority in congress during Kerry’s term, I expect that a lot of his domestic policy will go nowhere (I won’t be shedding any tears over some of it), but if he can at least slow down the deterioration of the Iraq situation, it’ll be worth it.