creeper
n.— «But on board now of course are also those newish ladies and gentlemen who are sometimes referred to as “creepers.” In the ancient game of “You go down, I go up,” they see themselves as inheritors who will have earned their pedestals by “struggling” for the President in his later years. Where Museveni’s old buddies (or “historicals”) slept in mosquito and snake-infested bushes and risked their lives smuggling guns, messages and cash and killing Obote’s soldiers, the creepers must also be seen to measure up to the rough life. It is well and good if a creeper can jump smartly across a mud-pool on the campaign trail, but it would be much better if he rolls in the mud to cross the pool.» —“On the Mark: Has Museveni Chosen His Allies Wisely?” by Alan Tacca The Monitor (Kampala, Uganda) Jan. 16, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha’s savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature and predicted the effects of human activity on...