# polititians coming close to the top then reacting badly **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polititians-coming-close-to-the-top-then-reacting-badly/550554 "2010-08-17T19:16:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mrpayday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@mrpayday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrpayday)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polititians-coming-close-to-the-top-then-reacting-badly/550554/1 "2010-08-17T19:16:29Z")
The Australian Federal Election has Mark Latham crying about him never being Prime Minister and unleashing the hatred and never forgetting that it is everyone else’s fault. Is it common for almost winners to do do thier nut and spend the rest of their lives crying about what could have been? Aaron Burr is a good example. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polititians-coming-close-to-the-top-then-reacting-badly/550554/2 "2010-08-17T20:23:20Z")
Well, even though he eventually rose to the top, Richard Nixon famously stated, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around any more”, and this was merely after his loss for the governorship of California, let alone the loss to JFK for the presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polititians-coming-close-to-the-top-then-reacting-badly/550554/3 "2010-08-17T20:41:13Z")
It probably happens more often than you think. Here’s a column about [last week’s primary election](http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100810/COLUMNIST0101/8100331/Gail-Kerr-Election-s-sore-losers-need-to-quit-whining-already)in Tennessee criticizing several candidates who didn’t take defeat well. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polititians-coming-close-to-the-top-then-reacting-badly/550554/4 "2010-08-17T20:57:01Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Well, even though he eventually rose to the top, Richard Nixon famously stated, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around any more”, and this was merely after his loss for the governorship of California, let alone the loss to JFK for the presidency. That was the one I though of too. OTOH, I have the recording (“Great Speeches of the 20th Century”). In the movie, Stone suggests that Nixon was a on a drunk; in the live recording, he sounds very sensible and is just having a chat with a bunch of the campaign reporters after the election - the kind of thing nobody does any more, because every single word will be taken out of context or analyzed for contradictions. (As happened with Nixon and “kick around”). He actually talked about what worked and didn’t in the election, and what he thought of the prospects of various other politicians as if he were a pundit rather than a participant; and then mentioned that they wouldn’t have him to kick around any more. It does not sound like sour grapes or drunk rambling, just a way of saying “I’m done with politics”. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polititians-coming-close-to-the-top-then-reacting-badly/550554/5 "2010-08-17T22:17:59Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > He actually talked about what worked and didn’t in the election, and what he thought of the prospects of various other politicians as if he were a pundit rather than a participant; and then mentioned that they wouldn’t have him to kick around any more. It does not sound like sour grapes or drunk rambling, just a way of saying “I’m done with politics”. He accused them of press bias in favor of Brown. How is that not sour grapes? Here’s a transcript of his press conference. [http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/NixonConcession.txt](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/NixonConcession.txt)