retail politician

[George Thompson]

I had not encountered these terms applied to politicians before.  My
immediate reaction was "available for purchase" but at different levels of
cost -- evidently not what the coiner intended.  A wholsesale politician
would cost more, because he is bought in bulk, just as buying 1000 gallons
of milk costs more than buying a quart at the grocery, though the bulk
purchase is cheaper by a notional unit price.

As for Perry, I don't know about retail or wholesale, but he does seem to
be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the gas and oil industry.

GAT

On Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 9:31 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Google hits 27,000 sites.
>
> Twice in the last few weeks, talking heads have described Gov. Perry
> as a "great retail politician."  At least he was before his unusual
> New Hampshire speech, at least one-third of which is well worth
> watching:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M4gz97Y9W8
>
> Is he still a great retail politician? How do we know? Am I the only
> one who can construct a plausible meaning for the phrase "retail
> politician"? ("A politician who can successfully appeal to voters" ?)
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org