It's no secret that people tend to display their political leanings on their car bumpers, and it's also no secret that emotions are running high. SFist will also confess that when we see the rare Bush/Cheney bumper sticker on the road, we sometimes speed up and pass them just so we can see what they look like. But a Mountain View resident who got the personalized license plate NO*BUSH went outside Sunday morning and found that a disgruntled Republican had taken a baseball bat to the rear window of his SUV and dented the plate. "If you feel that strongly about politics, put up a bumper sticker or volunteer for a campaign instead of destroying things. I'm just looking forward to the election being over," the Kerry supporter said.

While the police have no witnesses and can't say for sure that it was because of his plate, the Kerry supporter believes the attack was politically motivated, especially since nothing was actually stolen from the car. This story is just so excellent. So the Kerry supporter is actually a Green Party member crossing lines (and driving an SUV?), who's now borrowing his brother's car. His brother, a Marine, doesn't need the car because he was just deployed to Iraq. The supporter has decided he's not going to repair the car because his insurance policy doesn't cover vandalism and he'd rather donate the $700 that it would cost to charity or a political cause instead. He's also planning on keeping the plate on the car -- unless Bush loses the election. "In three weeks, I'm hoping it'll be a moot point."

On the Republican side, a South Bay Republican activist says she has anecdotally heard of Republicans displaying Bush/Cheney stickers finding their cars keyed. "I guess there are donkeys on both sides of the aisle," she says.