In the video clip below, 'Now' guest host Ari Melber asks Melissa Harris-Perry, "Is there extra credit for losing creatively? You're a teacher and an educator."

Her reply: "There actually is extra credit for losing creatively if you are a current office holder. If you are a senator or a governor and you're going to go back to that job, then in fact there are ways you can lose and still retain your position -- for example, as McCain does as a particular kind of voice within the context of the Senate. When you are, as Romney said multiple times in the primary, an unemployed guy, then what happens is you simply become, sort of, a speed bump in history."

P.S. This was back in September. Prophetic?