fling93 loves fishies

American Presidential Candidate Selector

Well, I usually try to avoid memes, since I figure you can find those everywhere, but in this case, some of you are probably curious about where I end up (plus most of the other topics in my to-blog queue involve a good deal of work).

So I took SelectSmart.com’s 2004 American Presidential Candidate Selector quiz, and here are my results…

1. Your ideal theoretical candidate. (100%)
2. Libertarian Candidate (80%)
3. Dean, Gov. Howard, VT - Democrat (59%)
4. Sharpton, Reverend Al - Democrat (58%)
5. Green Party Candidate (56%)
6. Clark, Retired General Wesley K., AR - Democrat (53%)
7. Socialist Candidate (47%)
8. Moseley-Braun, Former Senator Carol, IL - Democrat (41%)
9. Kucinich, Rep. Dennis, OH - Democrat (40%)
10. LaRouche, Lyndon H. Jr. - Democrat (38%)
11. Edwards, Senator John, NC - Democrat (38%)
12. Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (38%)
13. Phillips, Howard - Constitution (34%)
14. Lieberman, Senator Joe, CT - Democrat (33%)
15. Gephardt, Rep. Dick, MO - Democrat (33%)
16. Bush, President George W. - Republican (30%)
17. Hagelin, Dr. John - Natural Law (15%)

Not too many surprises, except maybe Sharpton and the Socialist Candidate (of course, I’ve heard nothing but bad things about Sharpton, but I actually have no idea what he stands for).

I certainly don’t recommend actually using this quiz to pick whom to vote for. Perhaps the reasons are obvious, but belaboring the obvious is one of my weird talents. Firstly, you have no way of knowing whether the quiz writer has some sort of agenda. More importantly, this quiz, by necessity, completely ignores character (you know, things like integrity, intelligence, discipline, experience, diplomacy, poise, and the ability to shout out state names really loudly).

Plus, it’s much shorter than the Political Compass quiz, which, as I pointed out earlier, is actually lacking a dimension. It’s not enough to ask whether you think abortion should be legal, it needs to ask you why — because you don’t think it’s immoral, or because it’s none of the government’s business, or both (and vice versa for if you think it should be illegal). Which is why many liberals test as very libertarian on the Political Compass (here’s an an interesting discussion on multi-dimensional politics, although I disagree with the third dimension they picked). The Selector quiz is so much shorter that it can’t help but be even more limited.

Never mind that it would be totally useless for my Mom, who has just one make-or-break issue for candidates: their stance on the Taiwan/China issue (no doubt she is heartbroken at Lieberman’s withdrawal). But I guess if you’re like that, figuring out who to vote for is easy enough that you wouldn’t need a quiz like this anyway.

So just keep that in mind. Go ahead and take the quiz, since it can be a fun and interesting exercise (just like with the Political Compass), but don’t read too much into the results.