MSNBC hosts Al Sharpton and Chris Matthews were very critical of Kentucky Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes concession speech following her early loss to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, calling the speech inauthentic, “partisan,” and ungracious.
“That wasn’t your usual concession speech,” Matthews said. “Usually you congratulate the winner, you say something gracious, you move on, you unify the state to some extent. It was a partisan speech, fair enough, it’s her call. But it’s different.”
“It wasn’t a concession speech,” Sharpton noted. “Usually you concede. I mean, I think that again, you need to be gracious. You can represent what you represent, but you respect the winner and you pledge to move on together and let him look [like] the one [who’s] obstinate.”
He continued, saying that Grimes lost after she refused to say whether she voted for President Obama. “You look like you lack authenticity. And she furthered that tonight by not being gracious to Senator McConnell, one I disagree with, but you don’t act in that way, I think.”
“I think you should concede and congratulate the winner because it is a fair election,” Matthews agreed, “there wasn’t any cheating in the election. You have to observe certain protocols in American politics. Just do it, get it over with, you don’t have to like the guy.”