I convinced a 20 year old marine not to vote for Bush yesterday

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

Yesterday I was part of the entertainment at a base for 9/11 celebrations. Over the course of the day, I befriended this marine, a very young guy from Detroit. The conversation turned to the war and whether he would be going. He said he was hearing everything from he would be going to Iraq to possibly Iran and that North Korea wasn't out of the question either.

His family were immigrants. His reason for enlisting was that he loved America. When it turned to presidential politics, he said he wasn't very political but that he and all his fellow grunts were OOH RAH Bush. I asked why? He stated it was because they got their raise and that young guys were coming back from Iraq, and were able to buy the SUV's and the wheels etc since they can virtually save every penny they make while they are over there. I asked "What about those coming back without eyes or legs? What do THEY spend all that money on."

I informed him that I had done many other events on base and that his highest command was more leaning toward Kerry and were NOT happy about the way this war was going. (During the course of the day, I had spoken to a high ranking officer's wife that echoed this sentiment..her husband has been there for 18 months)

I ticked down the reasons this war was wrong one by one, all the time respecting that he MAY have to go and that I was not trying to ruin his morale and that I respected the fact that he was willing to place his life on the line and that alone meant whatever he chose, I had to respect.

By the time I got done...he was thinking and thinking hard. He came back at the end of the gig with a 6 pack and we sat on the shore drinking it and continuing our discussion. By the end of the 6 pack, he was clear he would not be voting for Bush.

This was a sharp young guy who will no doubt have other conversations and will look up the facts I presented him with. I explained that why I felt Kerry was necessary was that the coalition that Bush claims he is putting together is falling apart...they really didn't supply much in the way of troops, we can't fight in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea at the same time and expect to win OR even prevail. That it was time that we had a leader that was not hated by the world, that the Abu Graib incident was the worst embarrassment to America in that if HE were captured there USED to be a rule of law that governed how he SHOULD be treated (he confirmed he had been extensively trained on the Geneva convention rules) and that the preemptive war doctrine totally UNDERMINED our security.

It was a great conversation....I am sure it will ripple...more importantly I befriended this guy...I didn't knock what he believed...I simply got him to question what he believed he knew.