From a John F. Harris column on politico.com headlined “Why Wait? Here’s Liz Cheney’s Concession Speech in Advance”:
Liz Cheney is facing an awkward challenge. A few days from now, she will deliver the most consequential speech of her career to date. The polls indicate it will almost certainly be a concession speech.
Rhetorically, the assignment is clear: Accept defeat while sounding like a winner. More specifically, Cheney needs to signal that the loss of her Wyoming House seat in a GOP primary is in no way the end of her career, but the opening of a new phase in which she intends to be one of the most important people in American political life. She needs to invite the audience to imagine that they are not listening to a soon-to-be former congresswoman but instead to a possible future president.
