It's not just DU now -- is there a realization of how shaken and abandoned

[DeepModem Mom]

half of this country is, do you think? I'm in the Northeast, and I'm hearing migration and secession, I am seeing black armbands. Voices are lowered. I'm on the phone to people in several states. Some took medication, and knocked themselves to sleep early last evening. Getting to work, and actually working is hard. Many can't talk at all. My family is crying, and I can't help. I try for words of comfort, but don't find them.

Fifty million people estranged from their own country by this evil cabal and the zealots who enable them -- it's astounding, it's so wrong. Fifty million people feeling totally helpless, totally powerless, totally devastated --

What do we do?

[against all enemies]

1. I drank wine, but woke up with a headache. I'll drink more tonight.

see if the headache goes away.

[onecitizen]

7. what makes you sick will

make you well. At least that's what they used to tell me! :-)

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. lol

Humor is the best medicine. Jon Stewart has the magic bullet that will cure us all.

[Dems Will Win]

18. THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION is in this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x16099

[ramapo]

33. I drank wine and couldn't sleep

It's that Gore 2000 nightmare.

At least they won;t have Kerry to kick around

[leftchick]

39. I drank vodka till I puked....

now it is Xanax until they run out....

[MsFlorida]

2. same here in florida.

my boss who used to be a repug and turned into one of us doesnt want to do any work, says its just difficult to get through the day.

I'm thinking just like I told my 15 yr old son that its time to set some goals, 1 hour, 2 hours, 1 week, 2 weeks, etc. Maybe go to gym and work out, would be nice to rediscover my abs again, walk on the beach, our lives will go on and this too will pass

[Dudley_DUright]

13. The students in my classes at my University mostly looked like all their

Grandparents had died simultaneously. I could not take it and had to come home in the early afternoon (and drink massive quantities...)

[kitkatrose]

35. In the elevator going up to my room,

there was a guy dressed up in a suit ( I think he was in the School of Business, they have to dress up like that for class). He looked so tired, and the other girl in there asked him, "what's up? You look tired." He said "Yeah, I'm tired. My future has been fucked up for the next four years." I gave him a pat on the shoulder, and made him laugh a bit, but that's so depressing.

Most of us in my classes were pissed and disappointed. Except one student (who I later found out isn't a US citizen, thank God) who wanted Bush to win because "he's the man." I couldn't get anymore out of him, no why or how. I seriously hope that it's not indicative of the majority of Bush voters. :hug: I think we all need some hugs.

[oregonjen]

3. That's exactly what my Mom said today, half the country is left alone

Just when I thought I could get through the conversation without losing it, I lost it. Totally broke down and cried on the phone to my Mom! I'm 37, two children and a wonderful husband. I need them more than ever.

[dirtyduck]

16. just got off the phone with my mom and cried too...

I'm 32 with a daughter of my own. The crazy part is that she is a diehard republican and voted for Kerry. She even said "we did all we could do." Thank God she was enlightened this time around, or I don't know what I could have even said. My sisters both voted for Bush and I don't know how or when I will be able to talk to them again.

[truthseeker1]

22. I need to call my mom (Repub) today but I keep putting it off

I just know she's going to bait me and I'm afraid I might lose it. My brother (also a Repub) ran for state assembly but lost - I feel obligated to call him too, but I'm procrastinating both calls.

[MaineDem]

19. I haven't been able to deal with phone calls today

I have the phone off the hook and got a message from my mother. I bawled like a baby when I heard it. And I'm 53 years old! She was so sympathetic; she knows what I'm going through. But I can't talk with anyone right now.

I was at our campaign office this morning and met a few of our volunteers. We exchanged embraces and tears. This is very hard!

I am making it a priority of mine to do whatever I can to harness this despair (or whatever it actually is) and turn it around for something positive. A few of our diehard Dems agree with me and we have the nucleus of a good group. I'm not sure how we'll organize this but it's a start.

Hang in there, everyone, You're not alone.

[SammyWinstonJack]

20. Half the Country is left alone and the chimp

couldn't care less. If we thought he was arrogant before, just watch him in action now. He won't even attempt to show any humility. He'll have an ego the size of Dallas. His smirk will grow ever larger as he surveys his kingdom. I can't stand the thought of four more years of this major league A-hole! :grr:

[wildeyed]

4. Feel really really terrible for a few days and then back to work.

Working on this election felt like a calling to me. I was simply too uncomfortable with what was going on in this country not to speak out, not to act. but I only got to that point in early spring and started being productive over the summer. As a newcomer to politics, the main failing of the democratic party, at least in my town, is they lack organization. There are a few long timers, a few paid folks, but at election time, they just get overwhelmed. What they need are good lieutenants. Volunteers who can manage small projects with some ability so the full timers can concentrate on the bigger picture. I will find a way to be that lieutenant. But first I need to mourn for a few days.

[Cobalt Violet]

5. Right now I'm in the secession mode.

Im in the northeast too. I can't live in their ideal of what American should be. I'm dead against that. I won't be able to live like that.

[oldlady]

10. Just officially seceeded my apartment

Hung a UN flag off the balcony, with a sign that reads:
Just another small group of WORLD citizens disappointed by,
angry with, and fearful of America. End the imperialist occupation.

[OneMoreDemocrat]

6. I feel exactly as you do............

I cannot come to terms with what happened yesterday.

This cannot be talked about in terms of losing an election, this is more akin to the beginning of the end of life as we have known it.

Hysterical sounding as it may be, there is a darkness that seems to have infected everything....it's like a horrible, horrible nightmare.

I feel like it's only a matter of time before the other shoe begins to drop.

[Nite Owl]

8. We are all pretty devastated

in this household. It's normally pretty noisy, music from every room, people walking in and out. It's so quiet. We all have yet to really sit down and talk about a plan of action. We are still in shock but it will wear off and the anger will set in and we will fight because that's the way we are. We just need the time to regroup. We know this was possible, we may disagree with the right but you got give it to them, they are good at what they do but we had no plan for this happening. Hopefully new leaders will emerge and show some direction. Right now we need some time for grief. He didn't win this big, there are still alot of us out here and we know how to be active now.

[okieinpain]

11. well I'm checking into moving to canda. I have two draft age boys

and I'm not sending my kids to the middle east for bush, and the fundies.

[donkeyotay]

12. same here. It feels more like a death in the family

I think the shock will have to wear off before we see how people are going to react.

[Redleg]

14. As we used to say in the Army- "Fuck it- drive on!"

We have to get on with our lives- succeed in our jobs so we have the means to donate and to support the Dems or other liberal party of choice. We need to keep these sorry fuckers' feet to the fire- don't let up on Bush and his cronies, make it miserable for them. We need to figure out how to turn it around before next time. Let's stay positive and stay committed. Let's show the country that we liberals value fairness and democratic processes, that we value people who work for a living, that we value education... and so on. We cannot allow the right to define us any god-damned more.

[Xipe Totec]

15. Put together a plan for 2006

Look at the map. There are a bunch of states that barely went to the Republicans. We can focus our campaign efforts on those states:

OH - 20,
IA - 7,
MO - 11,
AR - 6,
NV - 5,
NM - 5

Anybody who thinks Bush is going to pull his ass out of the fire in Iraq in two years is dreaming. The bills will come due. By the time the congressional elections of 2006 roll around the fiscal conservatives in the Republican party will be screaming bloody murder.

Start hitting them on economic issues. Remind them how the Republicans abandoned them and left them without health care or unemployment benefits.

Don't forget civil rights violations. Abu Grahib, Gitmo, the Patriot Act. These issues are not going to go away. Hell, before this is over we may have ourselves an old fashioned impeachment that will make Watergate pale.

[MaineDem]

17. Obscenity alert - and I'm not usually like this

How can the American people be so fucking stupid?????

I honestly can't imagine that half of the voting public actually voted for that idiot. I'm feeling some sort of a BBV fraud here. It can be the only explanation.

But I'm too devastated to think clearly. I want everyone in the world to know we didn't all vote for him. Some of us understand and are thinking individuals. The others are merely lemmings.

[Karenina]

45. Talked to some fellow expats

"OK we KNOW homies be pretty isolated, arrogant and stupid, but we ALSO KNOW they can't be THAT STUPID. Had to be the FUCKING MACHINES!" Like they counted the expat absentees. Prolly shredded 'em at a remote RIGGS BANK office in Africa. Like they counted all those who trusted in a secret ballot when showing up at the polls. Millions misdirected, obstructed, deceived by any means necessary, provisionalized... The question is, "Do YOU tolerate the theft? Give it 4 mo, then see if you got the power to 'vote it out' (as well as THAT has worked as of late). *Cabal got the electronic ripoff thing DOWN and control the media. I ain't likin' what I'm seein' at all.

Astonishment, outrage, (totally pissed of at JK for about an hour- got over it) profound sadness... I went to a concert at a church Monday that had 20 ft marble/concrete collonades, one of which showed bomb damage. There was a plaque on it that said, "Warning to the Living, Oktober 1944." :SIGH:

Y'all can't wait fo no leader, gotta organize on a local level and TAKE THE SHIT BACK. (How'd those dagnabbed machines get installed in there anyway? ANY 12-YEAR-OLD NERD KNOWS, the shit glitches, crashes and is easily INVADED. Bitte. Schon gut. GET THEM OUT OF YOUR HAMLETS, VILLAGES, CITIES AND REGIONS! BACK TO MONO. Paper and Sharpies work).
Spend locally, why give folks who be trying to KILL YOUR COMMUNITY in pursuit of a greenback your hard-earned cash? . $$$ is the ONLY viable weapon, a r€ality that you will quit€ soon r€cogniz€. ;-)

[amazona]

21. Oh yeah Canada realizes!

You probably saw on the Breaking News page where Ottawa released an announcement telling U.S. Democrats that they cannot just move across the border today without going through a process that may take up to a year.

That is a sad day when another country has to make an announcement because they are so concerned about potential asylum seekers.

I'm not sure what to do next but what we can't do is pack the bags of 50 million people -- the smartest and most thoughtful of the citizens -- and abandon all the atomic bombs and other weapons in this country completely to a band of religious hysterics.

[crickets]

23. You got that right

If all of the sane people leave, the crazies are still holding all of the scary toys. Yikes.

:scared:

[markus]

37. I'm not going anywhre, but I never saw it in that light

A hundred million freepers with nuclear weapons.

Holy Shit!

[cmf]

24. It's everywhere

You should see the mood in my dark blue city of Seattle. Disbelief, deep sadness and anger.

[SemperEadem]

25. On his inauguration day

we dems should line the streets of DC wearing black hoodies and black armbands... and when his motorcade passes, turn our backs and be silent.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

26. in new york some people are literally in tears

including me...i cant stand it!

[Chovexani]

36. I cried myself to sleep last night

And I haven't stopped crying all day. I feel like my soul died last night and I don't know how to get it back.

[democratreformed]

27. Very subdued atmosphere everywhere I went today.

It was like many of the people were in shock. It is sad.

[Patiod]

28. Our IT guy noticed I was wearing black head-to-toe

And I'm not even a New Yorker. I hadnt noticed, I just realized I was in no mood for the pink skirt I had laid out last night.

I had to interview this guy today (by phone) who started by saying "Long Face is conceding now!"
I asked him "would you like me to call you back later to give you time to gloat?"
"huh?"
"no really, why don't I call you back so you can gloat."
"uh, that's okay, I can do the interview now"

It should have been a 45-minute interview, but it barely lasted 20, because I was so irritated with him. Ugh.

[AnnInLa]

29. The only consolation is that he will go down in history

as The Great Divider. he always says that it is not appropriate for us to judge his actions, that history will do that. Yep, he finally got one partially right.

[Oak2004]

30. In the deep blue states, we're the vast majority

and we need to somehow leverage our regional majority. Not against the Red states, because even in the reddest of the Red states there are many, many people who are blue at heart -- but to help us, and them, and even the misguided Reddies.

Here's where I wish our elected officials would take the lead, but I don't think we can count on them. How can we, ourselves, do it? Perhaps then our "leaders" will follow us.

(P.S. -- I will ignore all responses to the effect of "it's hopeless! Give up! How dare you resist the Red Borg!")

[PurityOfEssence]

31. My father in law took down his flagpole

He said that it wasn't the country he loved anymore.

If I hear the word "god" much more, I think I'll be physically ill.

[revree]

32. WE KEEP FIGHTING!

They cannot win again, ever, and maybe now, after four more years of horror and war, more and more of the walking dead will awaken to the truth. We have to be ready to get them to the voting booths next time around. Please, grieve and mourn, as I am doing, but we must keep fighting even stronger and louder than before...

[Diana52]

34. This is the day that America died. n/t

[Buddyblazon]

38. I've got the solution....

All liberals...BREED...BREED...BREED. The church is all about breeding to increase their ranks. Well...you want to talk about "from the ground up". Breed. And teach our children correctly. Make this the "Anti-Bushy Neo-Baby-Boomer" era.

[Borgnine]

41. I'm too depressed to get an erection right now.

Maybe we need a General Discussion: Booty Call forum.

[Borgnine]

40. I haven't left the house.

And I'm on total media blackout save for DU and AAR.

I have no idea what's going on outside right now, and I shudder at the thought.

[mitchum]

42. All of my co-workers (public school teachers) looked stunned today...

none of them are DU-ers, but they are liberals/progressives. They are very aware of what is coming.

[proud patriot]

43. I had to break the news to my mom

That was extremely hard .

she works swing and purposefully didn't watch
or listen to any results . She called about
1 pm PST and said "okay I'm sitting down , what happened ?"

Breaking the news that Kerry conceded was very difficult
as she started sobbing . I told her it's okay we will
still fight , and grow stronger.

She thanked everyone at DU for their hard work
both ahead and behind .

[TheDonkey]

44. * is destroying this nation.