Eric Greitens has lost his Senate bid and a lot of Republicans are reported to be glad that his populist appeal finally has worn out. His opponents and news reports, and his own commercials, made it clear there was not a “new” Greitens who had changed from the scandal-plagued collapse of his career as governor and rising Republican star.
Is he finished politically now? Will we never see his name on a ballot again? Will we never again see a Greitens with a gun political commercial?
In politics it is advisable to use the word “never” with care. Case in point: November 7, 1962.
Richard Nixon, who lost the 1960 presidential race to John Kennedy, challenged incumbent California Governor Pat Brown’s re-election two years later. He had lost the day before. And on November 7, in a press conference, Nixon blamed the press for his defeat and declared that reporters would miss him because, “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.” The general consensus among the political punditry was that Nixon’s political career was over. We know how that turned out.
That brings us to another story—
Lucy Mercer Ruthefurd, the mistress of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, told her friend, artist Elizabeth Shoumatoff in 1943 that she should paint a portrait of her lover because, “He has such a remarkable face. There is no painting of him that gives his true expression.”
It was not until April, 1945 that Ruthefurd was able to arrange a two-day sitting by the President for his portrait.
About noon on April 12, 1945, President Roosevelt sat for the official portrait. As Shoumatoff was working her watercolor and Roosevelt was having lunch, he complained, “I have a terrific pain I the back of my head,” and slumped in his chair, unconscious. He died that afternoon from a stroke.
Shoumatoff never finished that portrait.
The political portrait of Eric Greitens remains incomplete after this defeat. He’s only 48. Nixon was 49 when he held his “last” press conference.
For now, however, “never” might be too soon for Eric Greitens to think he has a political future in Missouri.