Choosing the least worst

The editors of IDS Weekend have stong ethical and moral ideals to live up to. There is a proud tradition to uphold and a yet to be printed mission statement to follow, all with the sole purpose of providing you, the reader, with heartfelt, emotion-filled features and the best CD and movie reviews. Also included is an opinion page, where columnists get to spout off anything and everything that's happening in the entertainment world. \n So, with that, I apologize for what is about to come. Following will be the first, and I'm sure if my editors have anything to say about it, the last time this will be seen in the pages of this esteemed entertainment magazine. That's right, I'm about to go political. \n As everyone knows, the presidential elections are less than a month away. Now, I'm not going to go into a lecture on why everyone should exercise their right to vote (although it is your right as a citizen and you should be at the polls come election Tuesday), nor am I going to dive into any of the latest issues to be of concern. \n The reason has more to do with entertainment than one might think. It appears that in the November issue of Talk magazine, Mariyln Manson, Mr. Minister of Satan himself, is interviewed. He talks of his fondness for good grammar and his dislike of using profanity. Manson also lets it be known his disgust with Bill Clinton, Al Gore and especially Joseph Lieberman, who attempted to pin the Columbine massacre on the Antichrist Superstar. But more shocking is the fact that the dark prince of goth rock appears to be a Republican backer.\n "If I had to pick, I'd pick Bush, and not necessarily by default," Manson told the magazine. "I know I don't support what the other team is about."\n George W., being supported by the religious right and the son of Satan. Isn't it ironic? (And no, not in that Alanis Morrissette kind of way). Maybe now we know where Doubya has been getting all those "subliminabal" message ideas from.\n I think Bush needs the support of Manson and his Holy Wood contingency though. Marilyn can help bring a large amount of voters in who would normally stand against the Republicans. Granted, Manson is not a staunch Bush supporter or a full fledged Republican either.\n "I don't want to give the impression that I dislike one group more than the others," he is also quoted as saying." I dislike them all equally."\n But for a man who has made a career out of pushing envelopes and offending millions, his comments have definite conservative leanings. He believes in free speech but believes that the whole politically correct movement has gone too far. He is close to his parents and spends his nights at home with fiance Rose McGowan and their two terriers. He thinks John McCain is "open minded." He's a nice normal man, save for that whole Satanic-goth thing he's got going on.\n You know, as disturbing as it is to think that the man who has given a blow job onstage to his guitarist is Republican, the truly disturbing issue is how the two-party system is really more alike than different. In this corner we have Al Gore, who is associatied with all the shady dealings in the Oval Office that have surrounded Clinton (who has made a pretty good case himself for being from the Underworld). And in this corner we have Doubya, with the backing from the Antichrist Superstar.\n It begs the question, if we're supposed to be voting for the man to lead our country the next four years, why does it feel like voting for the two main candidates is really a task of choosing the lesser of two evils? Satan is going to have a tough time come November. I don't think a stronger case can be made for a third party, Green or otherwise.