Hillary Clinton’s concession speech Saturday was timed to give the big papers plenty of time to meet early Sunday print deadlines. But most opinion writers had gone to press, so a lot of the punditry will come next week.
Maureen Dowd had more bile in a column that seemed to have been written pre-speech but anticipated Clinton would support Obama (“faking it”) and Frank Rich, in another column written pre-speech, was still miffed at of Clinton’s decision not to formally concede Tuesday night (a standard not met by numerous presidential candidates — Reagan, Jackson, Kennedy, etc. — who carried losing campaigns to the conventions). Others were in a more generous mood. Dana Milbank of Washington Post said “….there can be little doubt the last speech of her campaign was also her best.” And Michael Goodwin of the NY Daily News wrote: “Whatever her muse, Clinton Saturday gave one of the most honest speeches she has ever given and perhaps the most honest we have heard in this political marathon.” Slate’s “Today’s Papers” feature noted that the LA Times, NY Times and Wash. Post all led with the Clinton speech.
The Daily Show commentary at top was also pre-speech, but trenchant as always.