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Harris concedes with a classy speech

Harris concedes with a classy speech

Harris’ concession speech was one of her best.  It was pitch perfect – largely because it was traditional boilerplate.  It was classy because it was positive and upbeat.  It was boilerplate because it was in the tradition of thousands of other classy concession speeches.

She mentioned her congratulatory call to President Trump.  She thanked her supporters and voters. 

Harris expressed her understanding of the sadness and disappointment her team was feeling – but she called on them to reject anger and bitterness.  She viewed the loss as a setback but not a defeat – and called on her people to carry on the fight.  She noted that in the darkest of times, you see the stars at their greatest brilliance – and called on her people to be those billions of stars.  It was a great analogy.

Harris pledged to work cooperatively in the transition and to work with the new administration when possible.

Harris, herself, did not display a sullen or angry demeanor.  She was the happy warrior.  She did not revisit the strident tones of the campaign, the demonization of her opponent, or the fear mongering statements about the future of democracy.  She did not question the outcome.

For sure, here speech was framed by pragmatism and reality.  The will of the people was decisive – leaving no opportunities for recounts and legal challenges of the types that occurred in 2020 by Trump and in 2000 by Vice President Al Gore.

The fact that Harris’ speech was a classic version of a classy concession speech – boilerplate, as it were — does not diminish the fact that she gave it with apparent sincerity.   She gave personality to what could have been perfunctory boilerplate.  She could have taken a much darker and divisive approach.  It is to her credit that she did not.  One cannot imagine a better concession speech.  She is to be complimented for exiting the 2024 campaign with style and grace.

So, there ‘tis.

About The Author

Larry Horist

So, there ‘tis… The opinions, perspectives and analyses of businessman, conservative writer and political strategist Larry Horist. Larry has an extensive background in economics and public policy. For more than 40 years, he ran his own Chicago based consulting firm. His clients included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman. He has served as a consultant to the Nixon White House and travelled the country as a spokesman for President Reagan’s economic reforms. Larry professional emphasis has been on civil rights and education. He was consultant to both the Chicago and the Detroit boards of education, the Educational Choice Foundation, the Chicago Teachers Academy and the Chicago Academy for the Performing Arts. Larry has testified as an expert witness before numerous legislative bodies, including the U. S. Congress, and has lectured at colleges and universities, including Harvard, Northwestern and DePaul. He served as Executive Director of the City Club of Chicago, where he led a successful two-year campaign to save the historic Chicago Theatre from the wrecking ball. Larry has been a guest on hundreds of public affairs talk shows, and hosted his own program, “Chicago In Sight,” on WIND radio. An award-winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries have appeared on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation. He is praised by audiences for his style, substance and sense of humor. Larry retired from his consulting business to devote his time to writing. His books include a humorous look at collecting, “The Acrapulators’ Guide”, and a more serious history of the Democratic Party’s role in de facto institutional racism, “Who Put Blacks in That PLACE? -- The Long Sad History of the Democratic Party’s Oppression of Black Americans ... to This Day”. Larry currently lives in Boca Raton, Florida.

11 Comments

  1. Dan tyree

    The best man won.

  2. FRANK DANGER

    Harris ran a perfect campaign. With more time, she would have done better, but she lost fair n square. Just not sure what she could have done different. I said at the beginning, I fear a McGovern moment and that seems to be the case. She hit the marks, made no mistakes, we got really energized and happy, and we didn’t get the votes.

    On this momentous accomplishment, we play a song that I hope Joe will forgive given the moment:

    Think All in the Family
    Boy, the way that conservatives played, grievance songs that made the hit parade, gee those Trumpers got it made, these are the days. Don’t need no welfare state, immigrants gonna be made to wait, gee our gas guzzler runs really great, these are the days. And you know who you are when, girls are girls and men are men, Mister we will bash those gays and trans until they meet their end.

    People seem to be content, $2.50 a gallon leaves room for rent, put the liberals in a circus tent, these are the days……
    It’s amazing how close the original plays against current times. You bought it, you own it. What’s next? So here we go:
    Will take a few days to sort the House out, wonder if Mitch will be the Senate leader? I hope at this point you take all three branches so you can own the whole enchilada with no one but yourself to blame; that responsibility probably won’t last when the chips are down and you continue to blame us.

    But remember the promises:
    Glad that the Ukraine war is over.
    Glad there is peace in the Middle East.
    Can’t wait till new concepts replace ObamaCare.
    Dick-tator for a day will be fun, what will Mr. Potato head come up with.
    Deep State is gone, replaced by the mush shallow state.
    Smith forced to make more money in the private sector, Communist Party member father-in-law will get more top-secret documents to read in his cabana, Schiff-Pelosi-Clinton-Raskin and so many more to be indicted by DOJ. So many Generals fired, Deep State replaced by online-trained Trumplicans, that will end well.
    The country will turn to mush to downsize by 50% or more

    LETS GET IT ON.

    I am not Frank Stetson, he’s all cat, no bull
    I am not Stranger Danger, he’s not that strange
    I am Frank Danger, third eye.

    • larry Horist

      Frank Danger. There is an adage in politics that if you win you did everything right, If you lose, you did everything wrong. Harris based her campaign on two subjects … abortion and Trump will destroy America. Abortion was never a top issue that drives votes when mixed with other issues. That is why 57 percent of Florida voters voted to protect abortion and 57 percent voted for Trump. Abortion wins referenda, not candidate campaigns. The entire insurrection, coup attempt and threat to democracy was all campaign bs and the public saw through that. If the public believed that, Trump could not have won. To have any hope of winning, she had to break with some Biden policies. It was a mistake to stay cloistered for so many weeks. It was not a well run campaign in my judgment.

      You writing fingerprints are a lot like Frank Stetson ,… Stranger Danger. Did you all take the same writing course? LOL And if you are not one and the same, while all the similar screen names? It really does not matter who you really are. I just read — or not read — what is written,

    • Tricia

      Personally I thought her speech was a C-.
      All she had to do was follow a script, not cry etc…
      What the left does not understand is that the “majority” of America is tired of being used, lied to, told they are too stupid to understand and if that fails they are trans, homo phobic, racist snd sexist.
      Perhaps they have forgotten the days when they at least pandered to the working class, supported women in sports and said abortion should be safe, legal and rare?!?!
      People who pay the bill for this bloated government are fed up and tired of being told that inflation is fixed, jobs are better and they should be grateful for slow, non-effective responses from the non- elected bureaucracy!!!
      Even if the rate of increase of inflation is slowing…it is still in addition to the already there increases…, a 2% one month is on top of a 2 1/2% the prior month and so on.
      We have endured years of lies and misdirection…almost every number touted (jobs growth etc) has been quietly revised with the hope “the people” living it won’t notice.
      The “save our democracy” rings totally false when speech and activity is more and more controlled!
      It is a representative republic and both sides (I believe) want to continue it….not to pander to a 1_10% of radicals changing the rest of our lives.
      I believe racism was improving as well as opportunities for women until we elected a man who was in a perfect position to increase that began to divide us….
      I have daughters that played sports (college) and I was a pre Title 9 athlete…so to have all that work wiped out with the introduction of trans into sports is crazy!!!
      I also spent my career in a non-traditional job…it confirmed to me DEI does no one any good…it is unfair to those with better qualifications, creates resentment, backlash and ultimately a poor product!!!
      Grew up in a family that worked hard to elect Kennedy and who thought Johnson was crooked…those people have had their party hijacked!!!
      Ancestors fought/served from Revolutionary War to my father, husband and 2 of my children serving in military.
      Those sacrifices should not be taken as toy shoulders to make some kind of military-industrial complex bargain…
      No…the people who overwhelmingly turned out to vote…want “their” concerns, way of life heard and considered.
      The majority included minorities, legal immigrants, a variety of personal lifestyles and religions BECAUSE they are tired of being pitted against each other and because they love, not hate this country…even if the bureaucracy and elites think they know best.

    • Seth

      Not a perfect campaign. Just bullshit and trying to buy black men’s votes

  3. Darren

    The Harris speech should sound good.
    All she did was BLA BLA BLA Trump.
    For once she can tell the American people something and be correct
    as she can not change the FACTs!
    For months she has spoken with NO substance in her words, just
    feel good crap to try to get her the job.
    So this talk of NO merit should be up her alley!
    She lost because Actions speak louder than words.
    And for 4 years she took NO action!
    At least the puppet masters can pull their hand out of her ass now and
    put her back on the shelf next to Biden!

  4. reward

    All I got out of her speech was a reminder of General Douglas MacArthur’s promise, “I shall return.” Let’s hope not.

    • w.Cool

      If she does not do any better next time she will be wasting time.

  5. BobM

    It wasn’t “classy.” It was a call to resist dressed up as a concession speech.

    And she did NOT run a “perfect” campaign, unless not taking any position on anything is defined as perfect because you can’t make any wrong decisions…….unless not taking a stand is a bad decision.

  6. Andrew Gutterman

    Harris lost because she could never formulate a coherent message that appealed to the voters. Every time she got interviewed she responded the same way to every question. I kept hoping she would quit doing that but she didn’t. Nobody gives a damn about how her mother raised her.

    Trump won again because the voters were revolting against the establishment. Only problem for them is Trump is even more establishment that they think, and when all is said and done, if he is able to do what he said he would we are going to see huge buyer’s remorse.

    You thought Inflation was bad under Biden? What do you think tariffs do? The consumer pays for all of them.

    start stocking up on what China produces and sells to us.

  7. FRANK DANGER

    Nope, I cannot imagine anyone running as flawless a campaign than Harris. Not like she had a lot of time to have defined plans. She pretty much said she would continue Biden, with a couple new ideas, and, like Trump, more to come when elected.

    Trump plans are not exactly fleshed out either, you just think you know him. I mean, end ObamaCare and have some concepts is not a plan. Drill baby drill is not a plan. Even arrest them all and send them home is not a plan.

    But he does have promises. Like end all wars in a day. Tariffs everywhere. Deep State gone, again, Lower taxes for all, especially Musk, No more energy bill shit, wonder how Tesla Mush will like ending the EV credits…… And indict all his enemies, always good for unifying the nation. We will see. One day at a time. Seems he’s got a lot of repeat promises….

    One good piece of luck, the economy does look pretty good, guess he fixed that……

    Here’s the fear: Trump lives on debt. He will treat this sovereign nation like his company and prop it up with debt. Give you free money with debt to shut you up, add debt by tariffs, mass deportations, whatever —– he will find a cause. He will dip into project 2025, and each idea will cost taxpayer dollars. Yeah, it even cost to get smaller. And the debt/gdp ratio, deficit and debt will skyrocket. And if that loan is called, the money dries up and it’s the end of all things.

    This has been true from day one when he took office and he blew it out of the park with covid. Joe did better with attempting to reign Trump’s spending in.

    Fed Reserve Chair will not leave until 2026, at least one guardrail for a couple years.