another WOTY candidate: "walking piñata"

[Laurence Horn]

I've been enjoying the references to the now ex-Majority Leader Lott
as "a walking piñata" in the days before his resignation.  (That's an
n with a tilde in case the character gets mangled in transmission.)
The phrase is attributed to an unidentified Republican.  There's one
relevant Nexis cite from before the Lott affair, back in June 18,
1995, reproduced below, as well as one in which the reference is to
someone's colorful if not gaudy appearance, but otherwise this seems
to represent a new and I think valuable coinage by the anonymous
Republican donor.

Larry
+++++++++++++++++

The New York Times
  June 18, 1995, Sunday, Late Edition - Final

  SECTION: Section 6;  Page 18;  Column 1;  Magazine Desk

  HEADLINE: THE CAPITALIST;
  Separating Rich People From Their Money

  BYLINE:  By MICHAEL LEWIS

  BODY:
  "It's remarkable. It's absolutely above board, thoroughly honest. It
may sound a little bit too good to be true, but it's absolutely
wonderful." . . . . . . . . MAY 2, 1995.

  "We're not naive dupes, I don't think." . . . MAY 15.


  "Oh, my God, I cannot believe it." . . . . . MAY 16.

  JOHN C. WHITEHEAD, FORMER CO-CHAIRMAN OF GOLDMAN SACHS, SPEAKING TO
STEVE STECKLOW OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, AS IT DAWNS ON HIM THAT HE
HAS LOST CLOSE TO $1 MILLION IN THE FOUNDATION FOR NEW ERA
PHILANTHROPY CHARITY FRAUD. THE RICH PROBABLY ARE DIFFERENT from you
and me, if for no other reason than they spend their lives being
treated differently by you and me. Especially in America, where
public goods are scarce and private wealth vast, a rich person is
a walking pinata. He strolls through life stuffed with surpluses
while the rest of us bash away at him with little sticks.