retail politician
George Thompson
george.thompson at NYU.EDU
Mon Nov 7 17:40:36 UTC 2011
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
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