A Marine Vet Brought to Tears

[OneAngryDemocrat]

After walking to, and voting at the local Baptist church, I spied an elderly couple (70s?) standing outside, at the front entrance. The polling place was in the rear of the church, and it seemed the two were unsure as to where to go.

''Folks, the voting booths are all the way in the back,'' I told them, guessing they were there to vote.

The elderly gentleman, put his hand on the lady's shoulder, and the two started walking up the slight incline, towards the rear entrance.

As she passed me, the lady said to me, in the most serious of tones, ''It's time for a change.''

"I've been opposed to the war since it began, ma'am - I couldn't agree more," I told her.

''We've been in Iraq longer than the whole time we fought the Nazis,'' the lady replied. ''And what have we accomplished? In all of that time - what have we accomplished?''

Besides the fact that the whole scene was just like having stepped onto the set of one of this week's many, many, political TV Ads, it immediately struck me:

I live in a VERY conservative rural part of the state of Illinois: This is Ronald Reagan's old stomping grounds. It is so conservative, here in northwestern Illinois, that half of the candidates running for local offices are running as unopposed Republicans.

But NOT so with the federal seats.

A democrat Marine Corps vet (Dick Auman for Congress) is running against the incumbant in my district and another democrat Marine Corps vet is running in the district just south of me (the Hastert/Laesch race).

As I walked the 1/2 block back to my house I thought to myself: The ONLY way the GOP can win this election is if they steal it. This 40-something Marine Corps vet felt a mixture of anger (at how far our nation has sunk), pride (that our nation could rise above it all), elation (at seeing the light at the end of the tunnel), and relief (for the same reason).

We've cinched this election - it is in the bag!!!

Please visit my anti-war website, www.shockedandawful.com