Invest in Therapy

Democrats are streaming into theiry therapists' offices seeking grief counseling over the lost election.

After the presidential election on Tuesday, [psychologist and anger specialist Steven Stosney] started receiving calls once again from livid Democrats, including a Kerry campaign staff member who said she was furious with George W. Bush, and was taking it out on her husband.

"These political families are collapsing at the finish line," said Dr. Stosny, the author of self-help books like "The Powerful Self." "They just can't take it anymore."

This article reveals where the true reservoir of hate in this country resides, infecting even the therapists themselves.

Peter Wolson, a psychoanalyst in Beverly Hills, Calif., said that several colleagues at a recent conference accused the Bush administration of being intolerant and fascistic while "they themselves were vilifying the Republican Party en masse."

"It was irrational black-and-white splitting," he said. "The good and bad guys. For the Democrats the `evildoers' became the Republicans."

But, if this is true, then liberals need more counseling than they imagine.

Paramount [Studio]'s "Alfie," a remake of a romantic comedy about a roguish womanizer starring Jude Law, opened to a dismal $6.5 million in more than 2,000 theaters, far below expectations. The tepid response was the latest blow to Sherry Lansing, the chairwoman of Paramount who last week announced her plans to leave the job when her contract expires in 2005, and whose movies have performed poorly this summer and fall.

Wayne Llewellyn, the president of distribution at Paramount, said that the conservative ethos reflected in last week's election results might have hurt the film.

"It could be the mood of the country right now," he said. "It seems to be the result of the election. Maybe they didn't want to see a guy that slept around."


Or it could be that the movie just stunk. John Kerry did get 55 million votes. If the movie were any good, a few of them would have bought tickets.