On the night of the 2000 Presidential election, Nov. 7th... (My 20,000+ post)

[Yavin4]

I ran through the highs and lows of that night. I went to bed with the news that Gore was going to challenge the final results, but I knew right then and there that he had no chance. There was no way that he was going to get an honest vote count out of Florida with Jeb Bush. Heck, the entire establishment moved heaven and earth to secure his election.

I went to bed that night pointing to my Gateway desktop computer and saying to myself, "the internet will be our salvation". In 2000, most of the web was a conservative wasteland except for a few sites. My favorite at the time was Media Whores Online. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Whores_Online). It was a liberal blog that exposed the media slant for W.

From MediaWhoresOnline, I found Bartcop, another great lefty website that delivered the liberal, unvarnished truth. Bartcop became the first website that I joined and I posted frequently. In 2001, it was Bartcop that pointed me to an up and coming political forum called DemocraticUnderground.com'

I joined and chose the username, Yavin4, the name of the rebel base in Star Wars, Ep. 4. I chose it because darkness had taken over the Whitehouse. Both the Clintons and the Gores re-located here in NY, and in some ways, I felt like I was on a rebel base.

Over the years, I've posted here more than any other forum. The founders of this site and the community have really built a family-like atmosphere. Yes, we say inappropriate, hateful things to each other from time to time, but that's what happens when you bring highly passionate people into one place.

In the end, let me say thank you for 20,000 posts, and I look forward to 20,000 more.

[fadedrose]

1. Congratulations on the 20,000

Last edited Thu Oct 16, 2014, 04:59 PM - Edit history (1)

Hard to do, and I hope you make it....

[fadedrose]

2. "The founders of the site" -

you couldn't ask for nicer or smarter people...responsible for the atmosphere that helped you get the 20K, and posting extras that can't be beat with so many options and smilies....

I hope that you will get the next 20,000, and you shouldn't have any trouble if the quality here remains the same and you stay as interesting as you have been.

[scarletwoman]

3. I'm very glad you're still here. Your username has become plenty familiar to me over the years.

Congratulations on 20,000+ posts!

I got here in late summer or early fall of 2001. I remember your username, it has always stood out in my mind.

However weird and unfriendly DU can sometimes be, it has always been my home ever since those dark days in 2001. Thank you for still being here, and thank you for your lovely OP.

[calimary]

4. God, what a terrible day that was.

Awful. And what came after it was even MORE awful.

I found my way here by way of a site called Resident bush. Caught my eye immediately - and I enjoyed the wit of it. Yes, he truly WAS a RESIDENT of the White House. Not a legitimate President, nor was he legitimately elected. But he qualified for the title "Resident bush." I enjoyed that site, and noticed a link to Democratic Underground at one of the margins. Sampled it, and fell in head-first. I've never climbed back out again since! This place singlehandedly kept me sane during those miserable bush/cheney years. It was like an oasis in the middle of a VERY dry and barren desert.

[CTyankee]

8. I came here in Oct. 2004, full of hope for a Kerry win.

I remember walking to the polls chuckling. Surely, we were going to WIN!

We were all devastated with the ultimate outcome. DU became my source of sanity, which was a godsend...plus Stephanie Miller and her mooks...

[Yavin4]

10. 2004 was indeed a gut punch

Tears me apart when good people like Sen. Kerry lose to assholes like Bush. Theresa was dead on when she said in 2004, "they want four more years of hell". That's exactly what we got.

[calimary]

11. No kidding. That was a huge punch in the gut.

One would have thought that more of America would have learned a thing or two after four years of those bastards.

I find myself becoming so incredibly frustrated, indeed sometimes even hostile, regarding voters. It's the VOTERS. It's THEM. THAT is where the problem lies. WHO THE FUCK VOTED for these assholes? And WHY? Well, I think we know. The low-information folks who just loved the idea of the phony cowboy swaggering around talkin' tuff and posturing a la Shoot-out at the OK Corral. THEY got what they deserved, but the rest of us did NOT. Our military did NOT. Our taxpayers did NOT. Our SOLDIERS did NOT. Our veterans did NOT. Our economy did NOT. And some of these know-nothings who swallowed the CON-crap and believed and believed and believed - forced this blight on the rest of us.

THAT is where we have to focus a lot of our attention, seems to me. Rehabilitate those know-nothings. SOMEHOW get through to them. Howard Dean gave it a pretty good try with his "50-State Strategy" that produced great results in 2006 and 2008. Since then, seems as though we've abandoned it. Howard Dean talked about going into the belly of the beast, personally. Going to the red states. Talking to people - some of whom had never heard some of the ideas he and the rest of us espoused. Some of them had their eyes opened a little. Others, he said, told him while they disagreed with him, they still also could see his points and would concede that those points actually did make sense and that they could understand those ideas a little better. There were Dems in those areas who were literally STARVING for attention and for ANY support or acknowledgement, working every day in the belly of the beast and being completely ignored and dismissed and written off by the Beltway Bastards. He reached out. WENT TO THEM AND REACHED OUT. BROUGHT IT TO THEM. PERSONALLY.

And dear darling Debbie took over and turned her nose up at the "50-State Strategy" and went back to the foolish, myopic Beltway-only mentality. And look where we are. And NOBODY (including the "esteemed" Ms. Wassserman-Schultz) was on the alert in 2010 when GOVERNORSHIPS were up for grabs and we pretty much sat on our asses and didn't give it all we got. And the CONS got in there in far too many places. And what happens when you have the GOP in the governor's mansion on a 0-year - 2010 (2020 is coming - wonder if they're thinking ahead?) - which is a CENSUS year and a district reapportionment year. When the politicians get to redraw the districts to their party's advantage. AND WHERE THE HELL WERE WE????? WAS NOBODY paying attention back then?

[Cha]

5. Good on ya, Yavin.. I loved MediaWhoresOnline, too.. so sad when they were no longer.

[winstars]

6. After the selection, I found my way here the same way. Wow, almost 14 years. Time goes by so fast...

[MFM008]

7. my dad has passed away only weeks earlier

2000 ....... the year of true disasters.

[bigwillq]

9. Congrats on 20,000 posts!