Charlie McCarthy

English

Etymology

After Charlie McCarthy, the dummy of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.

Noun

Charlie McCarthy

1. (dated) A person under the control of another; a puppet or mouthpiece.
   • 1999, Department of Arkansas Heritage, Outside the Pale: The Architecture of Fay Jones (page 12)

     For the next thirty minutes, I was kind of a prop, his Charlie McCarthy, as he explained some of the things about the building.

   • 2008, Byron Williams, Strip Mall Patriotism: Moral Reflections on the Iraq War, page 127:

     The president has perfected his role as politics' answer to ventriloquist Edgar Bergen—using the Democrats as his Charlie McCarthy.