--said during the campaign he was superior and to say now he is not;
--spent energy and fortune to sell himself and now see all that in ruin and waste;
--dreamed about wielding power and getting his hands on all the pork money, and now watch the dream vanish, leaving only a nightmare of unpaid bills.
Then, there's the hope, "the thing with feathers-/that perches in the soul-/": there might be some error in the tally, some votes hidden away somewhere. Who knows the BEIs, BOCs, and C-Cimpel got it all wrong?
Good manners
Defeat is humiliating enough and we expect the loser to publicly own his loss?
Yes, because it's the decent thing to do, it's good manners, and it redeems the politician after all the muck and slime of the campaign.
It also defuses tension and tells supporters to put away their silencer-equipped guns and raise peace fingers instead.
I know. Politics 101 says the whole point of running is "to stay calm, cool, and elected"---and not getting elected is so uncool.
But losing is no reason to rage and rant, at least not in public when people place top premium on magnanimity in victory and grace in defeat.
Winners can be "noble in mind, high-souled, and generous in overlooking injury or insult," which they say is what magnanimity is all about.
But grace in defeat? Yes, by conceding when deep in the heart one knows he was licked and whining is only to soothe the ego and lessen the pain.
Besides, as a young Abines said after seeing all the elder Abineses cut down in battle, "There's always another election ahead."
