Would Kerry have really been *worse* that Bush?
At the time, I didn't really have any kind of scoreboard going in regard to which one I disliked more. All I knew was:
- I disliked both of them
- Living in Texas, Bush was likely to win no matter how I voted
- There was a candidate that I preferred
- Voting for someone else would rank me among the "Other" group, but would still be a statement to the two major parties saying "I don't like the choices you're giving me"
So, rather than picking what I perceived as the lesser of two evils (which I honestly could not decide at the time), I picked who I would prefer to be President, based on my personal beliefs. I didn't follow the election results in Texas, but if the "Other" margin was just enough to give Bush the lead over Kerry (I doubt it), and give Bush the lead in electoral votes (I doubt that even more) feel free to dislike me. As it is, I feel better voting for the guy I liked rather than trying to figure out which of the two major candidates was the guy I disliked the least.
The biggest problem I have with people who dislike third-party voters is they seem to think I would vote for their candidate if all I had was a choice between the two candidates. That's not necessarily the case. If I had been faced with that decision in 2004 I would have passed on both Turd Sandwich and Giant Douche and not voted at all. Then I'd be lambasted for that. :p
