I think my father cried.

[The Backlash Cometh]

He's over 80 and he hasn't called me until today. I wasn't in when he called and he left a message on the recorder. He said he needed two days to get over the results of the election and that he had been too depressed to call before today. He said he would call back later and we would talk about how to get this behind us.

I've only seen my dad cry once in my life. I was young and we were in the living room. Being in the living room was big stuff because my mother always insisted that it had to be neat for company so we rarely used it for everyday things. That was a luxury of space because it was military housing and there was eight of us living in a 1500-1700 sq. ft. block building. That day I was sitting on the sofa with my dad and he was trying to teach me the little German that he knew. It was funny because he was eating grapes and trying to pronounce a word in the guttural way that Germans do, and grape pulp flew out of his mouth. We laughed together and then I don't know how we got to talking about his childhood, which was a subject I knew very little about up to then.

I knew my grandfather was a migrant worker but I didn't know until then that it meant that he was rarely around the house. My father was raised by his grandmother and he never knew his mother because she died while he was still a toddler. I had met his sisters, my aunts, but I never got to meet his brother Joe because Uncle Joe died from tuberculosis as a young man. As a boy, Uncle Joe had epileptic seizures and they wouldn't allow him to go to school because his seizures would disrupt the class. My father remembered how he and his sisters would leave for school in the morning and he would look back and see Uncle Joe at the table with a book open, trying to teach himself how to read.

When my father got to that part of the story, that's the first time my father cried. He got up and abruptly left the living room.

Anyway, you don't go from that kind of poverty to middle class in one generation on Republican policies. My dad knows which party he owes a debt to. If I'm reading him right on the recorder, I think he felt that this election was an opportunity to pay a debt back to the Democrats. It must hurt him deeply. We say we can wait out four years, but that's an uncertainty for a man in his eighties.

[Droopy]

1. I was heart broken, too

I know the feeling. I don't know what you can tell your dad. I guess try something that will put a smile on his face. I hope he gets to see us win again in his lifetime.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Oh, I know my dad will be too busy comforting me to think

about himself when we talk tonight. That's why he took sometime to compose himself.

[Droopy]

14. He sounds like an excellent dad. n/t

[patrice]

2. He sounds like my Dad.

My Dad's family farmed in Oklahoma during the Depression.

I know I don't have to tell you to give him a kiss. I'm headed over to see my Dad today. He's been in the hospital again.

I will give him a kiss and think of your Dad too.

Hare Krsna!

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. I think those of us who had parents who benefitted from

Democratic polices are the luckiest people in the world. We really did get to see the best that this country was capable of.

[patrice]

17. That's so true!! We were a Labor household growing up.

I remember my Dad coming home from his construction jobs, washing his hands and face in the sink with lots of hot water and soap bubbles that splashed all over. Then he'd sit at the head of our extra-long dinner table where he'd field questions as we ate from my oldest brother like, "If God is all powerfull, can he make a rock so big he can't pick it up?" or "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?"

He never graduated from high-school, but he was usually foreman because he figured out trigonometry from some books and he is a BIG guy and very responsible.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. A completely different day and time than what we have today.

I miss that era. It was full of so many possibilities. Now we are so limited. It's like there's a thought-police out there and you're no longer able to be too different or your moral values would be in question.

[Liberal Veteran]

3. I'm sorry.....the best I can say is this.

You and he not alone.

[heidiho]

4. My Love to your Dad - he truly understands the meaning

of a democracy and the difference between a dictatorship and a democracy.

I sincerely hope he gets to vote again in 2008 and that the Democrats will win then but it's small consolation now.

I cried too.

[DBoon]

5. My wife and I almost did

It is terrible to be ashamed of the coutry you are born in.

[lawladyprof]

6. Tell your dad that I understand

Although I am only in my late 50's I have a different take on it than younger people. Less time to see the nation recover (dark times might cover a substantial portion of my remaining lifespan, recovery might be delayed until I am too infirm to enjoy it). Less personal resilience. In fanancial matters too--a disaster at 60 has a different impact because you don't have decades to undo the damage.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. I'm a bit younger than you, but ageing quickly.

Just told my older sister that there is no need in my life right now to be around people that make me unhappy. Life is too short.

[democratreformed]

7. I haven't heard from my granny either. But, I'll be seeing her tonight.

I expect her to be very upset too.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. Give her a big hug for me.

[Gregorian]

12. I have just had the same experience with my 80 yo dad and mom

They cried during Kerry's concession speech.

I have said it before, and I'll say it again- Bush is unhealthy for America. There is greater sadness and anger under his administration. And that is going to translate into more sickness, and violence. Period. Mark my words.

I am so sorry. Some of these older people wanted a better life. And now they have Bushworld for what looks like their last days. :(

Wish him my blessings. I hope he and all of us can find a way to endure this period.

Just a thought- it may not be four years. :)

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. What you say is so true.

They've worked so hard all their lives to now have a family divided. Thankfully, it's only one child that voted for Bush. And wouldn't you know it, it's the one that keeps begging for more money to put her kids through Christian pre-school. LOL!

[HamdenRice]

13. Thank you

for that very moving story. My family history is similar and we owe a great debt to the party of Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. We are their legacy, so we've got to do better.

[patrice]

18. So True!

After everything, even all of the differences! I'm still proud to be trying to live up to his values, and that IS part of my activism. I don't need values from my government!

[Kazak]

19. I know my wife did.

I held her, sobbing, for about an hour yesterday morning before I had to leave to go to work. Broke my heart. :(

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. I wish she could sit with me on the soccer bleacher this pm.

It's my daughter's first soccer game and the majority of the parents are Republican. I could really use a friend. I'm afraid that I'll either cry, or fight. Actually, I'm not afraid of the latter. I'll probably be forgiven in the long run if someone gets too boorish.

[L84TEA]

21. WE are not the only ones...

Add your name to this list and your fathers!!
we are all together! We must stick together!!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2587059

God Bless

[The Backlash Cometh]

23. I can't Steven.

I have children to protect. But someday soon.

[Liberal Mommy]

26. Bless his heart

I cant seem to stop crying. I'm so disappointed in my America right now.

[The Backlash Cometh]

27. I don't know how, but we'll all pull through it.

I'm glad you posted.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

24. my entire family cried and was still crying today...it's going to a hard

road to walk for 4 years and possibly longer considering all the more damage this madman will put on ours and the worlds shoulders

my sad heart goes out to your dad

[nonconformist]

25. Bless his heart - he sounds like a wonderful man and father

I wish I could hug him. It must be especially heartwrenching for the elderly, seeing where things are going with this country and feeling they might not be around long enough to see it improve.

Your story about your Uncle Joe brought tears to my eyes too. Then again, I'm just a big old emotional sap so it's no surprise.

I cried more than once over this, in fact I even BAWLED once. My husband almost cried, and for all I know he actually did when he was by himself. My mom cried on the phone with me.

I think almost everyone that truly understands the enormity of what just happened probably cried.

[The Backlash Cometh]

28. Your last sentence spoke volumes

"I think almost everyone that truly understands the enormity of what just happened probably cried."

Wow.

[BeHereNow]

29. I lost it in front of my kid last night-

I was in the middle of cooking her dinner and
I just started crying like a baby and couldn't stop.
I felt so bad about it because it scared her.
She is a teenager and really depends on my strength,
so seeing me so undone was upsetting to her.
I couldn't help it though, it just sort of came out of me
like an explosion of emotion. Mainly fear. I am so fearful
of what lies ahead under these war criminals.
I am also extremely angry at the impact they will
have on the rest of her life.
I am so depressed and overwhelmed by the whole thing.
I can't sleep, can't eat, can't think straight at all.
bhn

[The Backlash Cometh]

30. We're all feeling this way. And the more I see Bush on t.v.

and I hear talk of healing and the media continuing its garbage reporting that 80% of the population is okay wtih this, the angrier I get.

If they really cared, they'd take the time to find out why we're really upset about what has happened. It's because half of the American population weren't told about what Bush and Cheney have been doing to our country, nor where they really plan to go in the next four years.

[BeHereNow]

31. In the words of Blanche Dubois,

"Deliberate cruely is UNFORGIVABLE."
I will never forgive them and they are the LAST
people I would want ANY thing from- especially 'healing.'
The whole concept is perverse, like accepting a kiss
from a husband who has slept with you best friend, beat
you up, and molested your child; they have abused
the world far worse than that and now they want to
"heal" us?
FUCK THEM.
I will only feel healed when they are brought to trial,
and not a minute before.
bhn