Typical RAT crybaby!
Posted on 11/07/2004 11:44:21 AM PST by kattracks
The day Sen. John Kerry conceded the election, Dorre Kleinman, 35, was in a horrendous mood. She was trying to get on the subway with her 1-year-old daughter, who was in a stroller."I swiped my card and signaled for the token-booth person to buzz me through the wheelchair entrance," says Kleinman, who lives in Brooklyn Heights. "He claimed I didn't swipe my card. I demanded that he let me in, and he refused, so I started screaming and yelling. Finally, just to shut me up, he let me through. As I walked by his booth, I gave him the finger and yelled, 'I bet you voted for Bush!'"
Approximately 75% of New Yorkers voted for Kerry. And since Black Tuesday, Democrats in this city have been, to say the least, collectively despondent. We're in shock. We cry sometimes. And we're seething with anger, primarily directed at those stinkin' Red Staters.
Erica Boeke, 35, is so distraught, she's thinking about dumping her Republican boyfriend, who grew up in — big gasp — Iowa and Idaho. "We were having issues about the election for months, but I thought it was just kind of a playful banter type thing," she says.
"He would taunt me about how great Bush was and how much he loved Laura Bush. I was disgusted, but thought it was something we could overcome — like Carville and Matalin or Schwarzenegger and Shriver," says Boeke, who lives in Hell's Kitchen and works in publishing. On the night of the election, we had a huge fight, and I couldn't even talk to him or look at him. Then, I came to the realization that he kind of looked like W! This is when I decided that I might not be able to get beyond this."
Are we acting irrationally? Are we overly emotional? Is it justified?
"I think many of us are pretty traumatized," says Manhattan therapist Gerri DiBenedetto. "But while it's normal to be so angry, it's not appropriate to scream at token-booth people. You're so furious you want to let it out. That's fine, but you have to do it in a much more mindful and less destructive way."
What's important to remember, she adds, is that you're not alone in your grief. That many of us have been wandering around the city in a fog, shedding some tears, ordering in Domino's Double Melt pizzas, unable to work because we spend the day furiously E-mailing anti-Bush propaganda, doing whatever it takes to make ourselves feel better.
"I cheered myself up by eating pastries and drinking caramel macchiatos," says Nina Johnson, 29. "They were only momentarily distracting, but better than sitting alone in my office and crying."
Jessica Lothstein, 25, was able to release her anger and pick up a new skill at the same time. "I learned how to sew just so that I could make a voodoo doll in the shape of Ohio," she says.
Amy Zapton, a 32-year-old Manhattanite, is also getting crafty. She recently bought two new "I voted for John Kerry" T-shirts and plans to make a pillow out of one and a shirt for her dog with the other.
DiBenedetto approves, adding that focusing on a hobby is a great way to heal — much better than obsessively watching TV and shouting profanities or throwing things at Chris Matthews and Wolf Blitzer, who we thought were our friends the last six months.
AVERTING THEIR EYES
"I feel like I've been shot," says Cecile Cross-Plummer, a 36-year-old publicist. "I'm a news junkie, but I can't watch CNN anymore. It's too much. So now I only watch the Cartoon Network, ESPN and Comedy Central."
DiBenedetto recommends turning off the TV, getting off the couch and getting some exercise, which, we all know, is a great mood enhancer.
Andrew Stone, 27, and his friend found the boccie court at his local Brooklyn bar Floyd to be a healing salve.
"Boccie is low-impact and relatively quick to master," says the magazine editor. "Plus, you can do it with one hand, while the other is securely fastened around a third or fourth beer."
On a serious note, DiBenedetto warns that boozing it up to ease the pain is not the best answer. "That's just self-destructive, and then you're letting the Republicans win," she says.
DiBenedetto also advises against getting into "political discussions" with family members with opposing views for the time being. "You can get into some really heated battles. It's healthy to protect yourself in that way."
Even if that means not talking to your relatives until the wounds begin to heal. "I'm just not going to call my grandmother," says Tracy Larson, a 30-year-old actress in Manhattan. "I'm pretty sure that she'd gloat. She gloated about the Red Sox winning. I'm hoping that Bush screws it all up before Christmas so that I can gloat."
So, when will the hurt, the heaviness and the pain end? Will we all be in a major depression for four more years? "Our bodies won't allow it," says DiBenedetto. "We'll find ways to turn the negative energy into something positive."
Heather Leo, 29, is doing just that.
"I'm going to make T-shirts that say 'Obama in 2016,'" she says, referring to the newly elected senator from Illinois, whom many regard as a rising star in the Democratic Party. "We need to start grooming that guy now!"
All Apologies
In a city where so many of us did vote for John Kerry, it's tough for New Yorkers to endure international criticism like that found on the cover of Britain's Daily Mirror, which asked "How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?"
But if you're agonizing about how the rest of the world views the President's reelection, you're not alone. And the folks at www.sorryeverybody.com are providing a handy forum for Americans who'd like to apologize for their fellow citizens.
Simply write your message to the world on a piece of paper and have someone snap a digital photo of you and your mea culpa. Then E-mail it to sorryeverybody@gmail.com. Others have already turned in the following sentiments:
"Sorry, world (we tried) — Half of America"
"Half of Ohio is really, really sorry. Don't hate us."
"49% of us still hate Bush."
And, for the true internationalists:
"Yo soy apesadumbrado, muy, muy apesadumbrado! Sono spiacente! Ik verontschuldig me!"
Isaac Guzman
Originally published on November 7, 2004
These people are so loopy that I'm close to feeling almost "unkind" -- like maybe agreeing that they should abort their children and engage in euthanasia (like that deluded idiot who shot himself at Ground Zero because President Bush won), rather than trying to reason with them or persuade them on those issues.
I'm here to tell you that this article is propaganda: it isn't a blanket of gray sadness and depression that fills the city right now, it's wide-open, venomous, spittle-filled, vitriolic hatred.
I'd honestly be scared to wear any sort of "Bush" or "GOP" T-shirt downtown because I would be verbally attacked.
True story: My employer - a private club downtown - provides lunch to the entire staff of the company and we all eat in a common dining area. On Wednesday morning I went down and ate as early as possible because I knew things were going to get ugly in that room and I didn't want to be there. As the TV was announcing that Kerry was conceding the election, a man whom I normally respect walked in and said "Well, now the military coup is starting".
I just picked up my tray and left.
About an hour later a couple Bush voters were down eating with the room full of raving Kerry supporters who where clearly spoiling for a fight - this was the group of liberals I was going out of my way to avoid. These two Bush supporters came to my office right after eating and were visibly shaken - they had actually been verbally abused by their co-workers.
A little while after that, some of the Kerry supporters filed a complaint with Human Resources against the two Bush people for - I sh!t you not - "Voting for Bush". Believe me, I'm in a position to know these things.
I know a lot of FReepers are taking delight in Kerry's loss but for those of us living in Blue Strongholds all the elation of Bush's re-election has been short-lived and replaced by a low internal din of general nervousness: Bush voters are actually having to whisper to one another and make sure that their words aren't being overheard by someone who might be a Kerry voter.
Any sympathy I may have had for liberals and their loss in this election is gone. They can go to hell.
As I read the article, the 35-year-old with the baby is one the one with the referenced boyfriend.
Oh so that's why Democrats lost. Try a little thinking with your feelings next time. How about listening to a fallen New Yorker Lennon who sang of Revolution. He said "you better free your minds instead". Try it, you might like it.
Have fun FreeRepublic's own "Sorryeverybody" thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1271780/posts?page=157#157
I'm already tired of their crap. They live like rats in a mound and think it's normal (and yes not only have I been there, I lived in Queens for 3 years). To hell with them. If they're sick of us, and I know we're sick of them, let's cut each other off ..... and they can eat concrete.
these are mostly Manhattanites .. I'd like to see the returns from the precincts in Rckaway, Queeens where so many of the firemen/policemen who were killed 9/11 lived.
Oh they are, dear. They did their best. Geeze, isn't 15% enough?
If you are talking about the Bush Country one? I am sending a large jpg image (2mb) file to anyone that asks by freeper mail. So, they can print out a copy to annoy their liberal friends or put on their desktop.
Typical RAT crybaby!
I don't know you, but I'm making a guess that you didn't wish something bad to happen to the entire nation because of your unhappiness over Clinton.
You aren't a real Democrat until your household pets and dead relatives are voting.
Idaho is good!!! People can defend themselves.
'As I walked by his booth, I gave him the finger and yelled, "I'll bet you voted for Bush!"'
PMS or Democratic recriminations? So hard to tell the difference...
I don't think couples with opposite ideologies should stay together. I'm being honest. It's values. If you don't share common values, than your union will not last. I'm so proud of my step-daughter. She was dating a guy, she knew he was liberal, but as it got closer to the election, she realized just how liberal he was. She broke it off. He couldn't believe it! He said, "WHY DON'T YOU JUST ACCEPT ME FOR WHO I AM???? (Can you believe the childishness of that, but it's such a liberal thing to say). But then, to put the last nail in the coffin, he suggested to her that she come over and they'll both watch the Farenheit 9/11 DVD HE HAD JUST BOUGHT!!! She said, GA BYE!!!! ADIOS!!!! She's great!
"On a serious note, DiBenedetto warns that boozing it up to ease the pain is not the best answer. "That's just self-destructive, and then you're letting the Republicans win," she says."
Don't feel to bad for Mr. Coors, he still wins in the end. >:D
I feel your pain. Now, put some ice on it.
Let me rephrase that:
As I read the article, the 35-year-old with the baby is not the one with the referenced boyfriend.
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