Concession Speech
In the broadcast age, the concession speech of a candidate for high office reaches a wide audience, and is seen as the final swan song of a lost campaign. Out of courtesy, the winner of the campaign usually waits for a concession speech (if one is forthcoming) before delivering their own acceptance speech.
A losing candidate usually thanks their supporters for their valiant efforts, and points to the non-electoral successes of the campaign in building party strength and raising issues to attention that would not otherwise be in public discussion. It is also traditional, unless the campaign has been exceptionally bitter, to congratulate the winning candidate and wish them well in office, perhaps even offering a parting word of advice.
Read more about this topic: Concession (politics)
Famous quotes containing the words concession and/or speech:
“Let the amelioration in our laws of property proceed from the concession of the rich, not from the grasping of the poor. Let us understand that the equitable rule is, that no one should take more than his share, let him be ever so rich.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“There is the old brute, too, the savage, the hairy man who dabbles his fingers in ropes of entrails; and gobbles and belches; whose speech is guttural, visceral—well, he is here. He squats in me.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)