The night before
Last week, a Republican friend of mine who knows better than to discuss politics with me brought up an Ohio case where there were question marks about a number of new registered Democrat voters. You know, the usual, "They registered Mickey Mouse, Snow White, and Mary Poppins."

So I asked him, "And how are these fictitious people going to vote?"

Silence. Then, I asked him about the heinous voter suppression and chicanery taking place across the country, from Ohio to Florida. Nice tricks like flyers in black neighborhoods telling them they might be arrested if they go and vote or push polling in Michigan where voters are asked over the phone, "How do you feel about John Kerry's support for gay marriage?" My friend didn't know anything about that, I suppose, because Matt Drudge didn't post anything about it on his website.

It's all over the internet and even some of the mainstream media, these incredibly un-American acts. Tonight, I heard that people who asked for absentee ballots in Florida weeks ago just received them today. Now they have to fill out their ballots and get them to the central post office by 9 p.m. tonight or their vote won't count.

Let's be honest: there is one side interested in repressing the vote. There is one side that doesn't believe Americans should choose their President.

It is sickening. Still, some people love Bush. I guess they like being scared. I got an e-mail today from a guy I used to coach kids' basketball with. He knows my political preference, which I assume is shared with all the other people who were included in the e-mail. He wrote an impassioned letter spelling out why we should consider voting for Bush. He thought Bush was best prepared to deal with the threats North Korea and Iran pose. I thought to myself, "Do you have your head up your ass? Haven't you seen what a disinterested, lazy, easily led President can do in one country? Why on Earth would you want more of the same?"

I didn't bother e-mailing him back. The chances of me changing his mind are about the same of me changing his.

Today, I saw footage of Curt Schilling on the stump for Bush. I couldn't get mad at the guy who helped the Sox win the World Series. While Schilling, a true tough guy, spoke, Bush stood to the side with that weird stance of his, like a gunfighter ready to draw or a kid who just lifted weights for the first time and is having a hard time putting his hands back to his side.

If you're someone who makes over $200,000 and you care about your money more than what goes on in the world, you should vote for Bush. In reality, what happens in Iraq doesn't affect you personally unless you know some poor bastard who is blown to bits over there. It's a sick mindset to have -- this total divorce from a shared society -- but some have it.

I have two Republican friends and a cousin who all are voting for Kerry. They may be holding their noses while they do it but they are nonetheless. I know one Democrat who is switching over to Bush and that is because she believes God speaks through him. That's what David Koresh's followers thought too.

I'm proud to be a liberal; I think the military's philosophy that a unit is only as strong as its weakest member translates to general society too. I have friends who are proud of their conservative roots. The ones who are truly conservative -- in matters of worldview, government intrusion in our lives, fiscal responsibility, and in fighting the real terrorists -- are voting for Kerry.

And that's just one reason he'll win.