Defeated candidate Mitt Romney and his wife have opened up to the media regarding their views on his loss to Mr. Obama. Mr Romney blamed the vote of blacks and Hispanics as the cause of his losing. His wife Ann pointed to the misrepresentations of the news media as the cause of his loss. When I read this in the newspaper I thought about Adlai Stevenson's response when he was asked how he felt after losing his race


for president. He said he was reminded of Abraham Lincoln when he was asked how he felt about losing one of his political races. He said he felt like a little boy who had stubbed his toe and complained he was too old to cry but it hurt too much to laugh.

John Kennedy remarked about losing by saying "Victory has a thousand mothers, but defeat is an orphan." And it was Bill Clinton who said "You can't blame your opponents for applying a strategy that beats your brains out…"

When we are dealing with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat it means that the loser will be disappointed and maybe resentful. It is a reflection on the size of the character of the loser by how they take the loss. When Muhammad Ali was defeated he said "I never thought of losing, but now that it has happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life." A winner is someone who hates losing,
who congratulates the winner and accepts defeat with dignity. They accept personal responsibility and blame no one else for what happened. They pick themselves up and move on to greater challenges with a good attitude and without bitterness. That's a good loser in my view.

In other news, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the head of the Church in Scotland, admitted to being guilty of "inappropriate" sexual conduct with other priests and resigned. What is significant about this includes the fact he was an outspoken conservative who expressed homophobic views. In fact, John Paul appointed him cardinal largely because of his condemnation of homosexuality as "a grotesque subversion" winning him the title of "bigot of the year" award by a British gay-rights group last year.

The word hypocrite comes from the Greek and is related to play acting. The definition is "a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs" It is shocking to learn of all the political and religious leaders who turn out to be blatant hypocrites. It is one thing for a religious to conceal activities that are against their moral teaching, but quite another for that same person to actively be condemning the activity as immoral while doing it themselves. At least Cardinal O'Brien ultimately owned up to his hypocrisy and made himself accountable. That's more than we can say about too many other religious leaders who have been exposed as hypocrites but never accept responsibility or are held accountable.