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Matthew Yglesias weighs the voting options for libertarians in the 2004 Presidential election:

If those [libertarian] people go for Kerry and Kerry wins, the GOP will probably conclude that it ought to move left. If those people stay home and Kerry wins, the GOP will probably conclude that it needs more traditional base-mobilizing techniques like gay-bashing. If they vote Libertarian and Kerry wins, though, the GOP just might conclude that it needs to do something to attract their votes.

I’m not sure I agree. If libertarians vote for Kerry and thus swing the election, GOP pollsters will probably be smart enough to figure that out when they seek to find out why Bush lost. Or they can just read our blogs. And if the hysterical rants I’ve heard from Democrats against Nader voters in the last three years are any indication, blaming third party voters is a lot easier than asking hard questions about why they didn’t vote for your guy - somehow votes for the opposing major party aren’t as bad in their minds.
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The blogger formerly known as Calpundit didn’t like last night’s 24 season finale. I disagree.

If you don’t want to read 24 spoilers, STOP READING NOW.

Now, I was disappointed with the show for a lot of this season. They failed to wrap up the loose ends from last year, and they eliminated all of this year’s loose ends halfway through with a lame “Oh, Jack planned the whole thing” gimmick. And two beloved characters - Tony and President Palmer - turned bad for no good reason.

Last night’s finale was a major departure from the preceding two finales, both of which ended with shocking events in the last 30 seconds that left the aftermath to the viewer’s imagination. We had every reason to expect the same last night. Instead, we got a storyline that ended ten minutes before the episode, giving us time to see how the characters will move forward from the day’s events.

Chase Edmunds absolutely has the potential to be the next Jack Bauer, but in order for that to happen, he needs to “detatch". That’s not what Chase wants - his girlfriend and daughter are more important to him. He’s out.

Tony’s going to jail, and the entire Palmer family is ruined, because in every case they couldn’t handle the conflicts between family and The Job.

In the final scene, Jack - who lost his wife to this job three years ago, but stayed in it - excuses himself and goes to his car by himself. Is he going to shoot up? No, he’s just going to cry. (If you read posts by drooling 24 fans, it’s amazing how many differing interpretations there were by people who just KNEW what Jack was crying about.) But just when the tears are about to come, a call comes in on the police radio, and off he goes - to be Jack Bauer ever after. The End.

Oh, and speaking of Fox finales that redeem weak seasons, Fantasia just won American Idol.

Via Eschaton, I learn that predictable Republican apologist Tucker Carlson* has joined the rest of us radical left-wing America-haters in opposing the Iraq war.

“I think it’s a total nightmare and disaster, and I’m ashamed that I went against my own instincts in supporting it,” he said. “It’s something I’ll never do again. Never. I got convinced by a friend of mine who’s smarter than I am, and I shouldn’t have done that. No. I want things to work out, but I’m enraged by it, actually.”

Atrios goes on to cite statistics showing record low opinions on the war among Americans. But I propose this challenge: who will be the first poster on National Review’s The Corner to stop clapping? I restrict this survey to the Corner because the articles on the main page occasionally contain heretical views, but the Corner largely sticks to the party line.

My money’s on Krikorian or Derbyshire, the two house paleocons.

* I realize Carlson no more of a predictable partisan apologist than Begala or Carville, but that doesn’t make him not one.

Kevin Drum writes:

Bottom line: if you were against the idea of transforming the Middle East via war, you should be against Bush because he had the wrong idea. Conversely, if you were in favor of transformation you should be against Bush for making such a total hash of the idea.

However, if the reality is that you don’t seriously care about the war at all, but instead harbor only a fuming, obsessive desire to keep Democrats out of office at all costs, Bush is your man.

Indeed. One hears a lot of talk about blind “Bush-hating", and there’s some truth to it. On the other hand, there’s such a thing as reflexive “Bush-loving", and plenty of people are guilty of that too.

When I clicked on William Saletan’s chronology of the term “rape rooms”, I was expecting to enjoy some quality snark at the Bush administration’s expense. But by the end, I was nearly in tears. This stuff isn’t funny anymore. It’s horrific.

“One thing is for certain: There won’t be any more mass graves and torture rooms and rape rooms."—George W. Bush, Jan. 12, 2004

Via Radley Balko.