Heh! Yes, I never could figure out the John-as-a-liberal thing, because it struck me as so utterly wrong for the character. I don't have any problem with characters thinking differently from me; they *should* think differently from me, because they're not supposed to *be* me.

I've generally fanned on closed-canon shows before now; it's possible that I just don't deal well with an ongoing, ever-changing canon. I'm actually looking forward, on some level, to canon being closed.