Talk:Stalking horse

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Contents 1 Sir Anthony Meyer 2 American Indian name? 3 Art Term 4 Questionable source 5 Clarity of examples and definitions

[edit] Sir Anthony Meyer

Sir Anthony Meyer was the "stalking horse" put forward by Heseltine himself who was very serious about becoming Conservative leader. I suggest reading his biography if you have any doubts about who was who in this business. The John Major eventually won does not make Heseltine the "stalking horse" by implication.

[edit] American Indian name?

Wasn't Stalking Horse an American Indian name? I don't mean just Crazy Horse or Sitting Bull, but this one as well. DyslexicEditor 02:43, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Art Term

Stalking horse is also a term of art in financial deals.

[edit] Questionable source

The source doesn't claim that Lieberman has been accused of being a stalking horse, it directly accuses him of it.--THobern 08:31, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Clarity of examples and definitions

I find it hard to understand this article, except for the origin of the phrase of course. A horse trained to help a hunter "stalk" his prey makes sense. The animals focus on the horse, which does not appear threatening, while overlooking the human hunter.

Let's try an example of splitting the vote. There are two candidates for high office, A and B. Suppose that B is likely to win, but a third candidate appears. He takes votes away from B, thus aiding A (who wins).

... a candidate who splits the vote of a serious contender, perhaps unwittingly, and thus benefits a third, better-positioned candidate. By this second definition, Ross Perot was a stalking horse for Bill Clinton in 1992, Ralph Nader was a stalking horse for Bush in 2000. (Slate)

I've also seen the term applied to an issue rather than to a person. Embryonic stem cell research was called a "stalking horse", with the real intent to discredit religion or to promote abortion on demand. --Uncle Ed (talk) 18:34, 28 November 2007 (UTC)