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
The particular thing I've noticed in all this post-election grief is a shockingly immature wailing sound, something like the temper-tantrum of a spoiled toddler.
They lost, and now it's time to examine why 58 million nasty stupid boo-boos didn't agree with them, because those nasty 58 million are still out there.......... lurking somewhere outside of New York City. BOO!
The liberal comments we've read aren't those of rational mature people that can learn. That's the bad part...
The weird thing is that I live in the same neighborhood and let us put it euphemistically, there is not one subway token clerk in this neighborhood -- perhaps in the entire subway system -- who is a member of a demographic likely to have voten for Bush.
Shhhhhh! Don't let them realize there's another election in 2008.
I think that they were. Remember all of the candle-light vigils in Union Square and elsewhere, and all of the posters of the missing? That went on for months.
Do you remember that poignant story about the end of the play The Fantastics, and how the steeled actor playing the lead would burst into tears when he sang "Try to remember the kind of September when life was slow and oh, so mellow"? It was very sad and beautiful in a way. (The play closed soon after, after a run of something like 40 years.)
I never would have imagined that it would have morphed into this vitriolic hatred.
Yes!!! Freepmail on the way!
You are correct, sir. I jumped ahead and made a boo-boo.
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!'"
We rest our case as to why the left doesn't get it.
ME NEITHER.
I didn't think too much of Clinton (although I don't think he was as completely evil as some make him out to be), but it NEVER would have occurred to me to renounce my citizenship or move abroad simply because he was president. These liberals just fundamentally don't love their country.
You folk who live in NYC and are Repubs deserve medals for having the stomach to stand it there. We in fly-over country salute you!
He says Bush is the "Worst Environmental President" in the history of our country! His dad told him he's full of ^&*$#. The guy used to drive me crazy with his constant phone calls 2-3 times a day on his free cell minutes. Now it's peaceful and I'm liking it!
ROTFLMAO!!!!
Perhaps more should consider the Veal strategy.
LOL! We find our social enclaves, and just get to laugh at the liberal animals in person.
Okay, we have these nuts at the edge of the cliff, now in 2006 we can put our hands on their backs, and in 2008 shove really hard, and send them reeling into the cess pool of Europe or Canada.
Yes, I thought and still think the same of Clinton. I cringe at the thought of Hilary in 08. But, the difference between you, me, the rest of Free Republic and these lib crackpots is that we can still desire the good of America even under a president we see as evil. Sanity. We have a corner on the market, I think.
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