I promised I wouldn’t talk about the debate, but this is too tempting to keep quiet.

From Annie in Spain, “I heard on the radio this morning that (according to the commentator I was listening to) Kerry ‘won’ the debate last night. Did you see it? I need to go turn on CNN, I am curious to see how stupid Bush looked this time.”

Bush could not conceal his anger and kept reverting to a rehearsed and more refined method of name-calling. What a sneak – relying on the emotional weaknesses of the American people and getting them to turn off the rational part of their brains. If the country votes for him again, it’s their loss. This is what I tell non-voters: maybe you don’t like the choice of candidates, but one can definitely wreak more harm than the other in the course of 4 years. A vote in this country, while not completely democratic, definitely makes a difference.

Annie again: “Is it sounding like you are going to vote for Kerry after all? Last time I asked, you were still leaning toward Nader. PLEASE vote for Kerry!!!!! With an election this close, a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush — like it or not.”

No, a vote for Nader is not a vote for Bush. It’s a vote for Nader. However, Nader and his mission are getting old, i.e. he is running out of spite for the two-party system as opposed to any earth-shattering and positive changes he has to contribute. I abhor the two-party system but I cannot vote for an equally insipid third party because I am angry. Therefore, I probably will end up voting for Kerry, if only to put Bush’s ancient cronies back in cold storage and hope they die of old age before they can be revived to wreak their form of trickle-down havoc again.

Not to mention the old fallback: the write-in. So there.