Most leftists will be like Harry Reid, who attacked President-Elect Trump as a "sexual predator who lost the popular vote."
But thankfully, not Matthew Dowd, who's a decent guy, and who worked on President George W. Bush's 2004 presidential campaign, at ABC News, "In This Election, Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa":
As I move on from the aftermath of the presidential election, these words from the Latin Mass I attended as a youth bounced around in my head -- "mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa."Keep reading.
The rough translation is "My fault, My fault, My greatest fault".
I want to take this opportunity to say I was wrong about who would win the election. But my biggest regret, and what I would like to apologize for is the arrogant, close-minded, judgmental, and sometimes mean-spirited way I related to many who believed Trump would win.
They were right, and I was wrong.
I had seen many things coming in this election that turned out to be on target, but for the big finale, I was way, way off. This is primarily because I stopped listening, focused too much on data, and didn't allow counter evidence to be absorbed in a meaningful way.
I became too bunkered in New York City (away from my home in Central Texas) in the last few months, and didn't pay attention to the local stories where another portion of America lives and breathes. Too many of my discussions centered around polling, the horserace, and odds, and not enough on the conversations on the ground.
Nearly three years ago on ABC News' "This Week," I said: "I predict that a year from now we're going to be talking about another candidate — some other candidate who has lit the fire in either party".
This was also a time I argued that Americans were sick of the fact with the 2016 election approaching, it looked like we might be forced into choosing between a Bush and a Clinton. I actually bet a friend at the time that neither a Bush nor a Clinton would be president in 2017.
I also said in early 2015 that Jeb Bush would not make it through the primaries and he would drop out early. And then in September 2015, again on "This Week," I predicted that Donald Trump would be the GOP nominee. I was laughed at and criticized by many. Further, I said early on that Bernie Sanders would rise quickly in the polls and, though Hillary Clinton would emerge as nominee, Sanders would do very well in the Democratic primary process.
Earlier this year, I said because both major party nominees were disliked and distrusted by a majority of citizens we would either see rise of a strong third party or turnout would drop to a low we hadn't seen in 20 years.
Then in the fall, I became convinced Trump would lose, and after the three debates, even put odds on Clinton winning at 95 percent.
Mea Culpa. I was dead wrong...
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