John Heilemann » Dogberry Pages

Vocabulary: consigliere

Title: Game Change
Author: John Heilemann
Author: Mark Halperin

Sentence: Nevertheless, McCain's consiglieri professed themselves pleased with the tour.
Page: 318

Word: consigliere
Definition:

the chief advisor or aide to a Mafia leader: often humorously or ironically applied to any high-ranking aide
Plural: consiglieri

No bias in this book!

Title: Game Change
Author: John Heilemann
Author: Mark Halperin

Sentence: It fed McCain's solipsism; he was the only fixed point.
Page: 296

Word: solipsism
Definition:

Philosophy. the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist.
extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc.; egoistic self-absorption.

Source: Dictionary.com

Definitely sounds like a condition that could be applied to all the political candidates.

Title: Game Change
Author: John Heilemann
Author: Mark Halperin

Sentence: In a party governed by primogeniture, he was now the presumptive front-runner.
Page: 272

Word: primogeniture
Definition:

The state of being the first born or eldest child of the same parents.
[Law] The right of the eldest child, especially the eldest son, to inherit the entire estate of one or both parents.

Context: John McCain entering the Republican primary after the midterm elections of 2006.

This word was not completely unknown to me. I have heard it used but if asked to provide a definition I would have had problems.

Title: Game Change
Author: John Heilemann
Author: Mark Halperin

Sentence: The unfolding scene was a semiotician's fantasia.
Page: 259

Word: semiotics / semiotician
Definition:

the study of signs and symbols as elements of communicative behavior; the analysis of systems of communication, as language, gestures, or clothing.
a general theory of signs and symbolism, usually divided into the branches of pragmatics, semantics, and syntactics.

Source: Dictionary.com

Another word I doubt I will ever use. Context was Hillary Clinton meeting Barak Obama in hallway days before she bowed out of the Democratic primary.