Figures of Speech Served Fresh

Quote: “…ultimately, the American people are a center-right country who, presented with a center-right party with center-right candidates, will vote center-right.”  Karl Rove

Figure of Speech:  epistrophe (e-PIS-tro-phee), the end-word repeat.  (Also known as antistrophe.)

The GOP gets jittery when it thinks about the November mid-term elections.  The only thing Americans hate worse than congressional Democrats are congressional Republicans.

Karl Rove puts an optimistic face on the matter with deft use of an epistrophe (“turning around”), a figure that repeats the last word in successive clauses.  The repetition lets you build a case that sounds inevitable.  If America looks like a duck, and a candidate runs like a duck, then America will vote for that duck.

Snappy Answer:  “You have the right party.  Where’s the center party?”