Teflon

Teflon is a nickname given to persons, particularly in politics, to whom criticism does not seem to stick. The term comes from Teflon, the brand name by DuPont of a "non-stick" chemical used on cookware.

Others

• It was applied to mafia boss John Gotti, called The Teflon Don, who managed to escape being charged or convicted of crimes for over a decade, despite being the very public leader of a New York crime family.
• Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was often referred to in the press as Teflon Tony.

• Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, was nicknamed the Teflon President, after scandals surrounding members of his staff seemed to have no effect on Reagan's popularity with the public.

• Ben Caspit, a reporter for the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv, once said that then Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon "drags around a paltry list of achievements, but the failures don't stick to him. The father of the nation, the ultimate Teflon, is sailing calmly toward a second term. Who would have believed it?".

• Ralph Klein, long-time premier of the Canadian province of Alberta, was often referred to as a "Teflon" Premier.

• Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (known as the Teflon Taoiseach) as scandal after scandal failed to have any lasting effect on him, until he was forced to resign in 2008.

• Teflon Johnny has been coined to describe Prime Minister John Howard. Other Australian public figures that have been called "teflon coated" include Queensland Premier, Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen and Prime Minister, Paul Keating.

• Russian President and later Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been referred to as a "Teflon leader", although the 2008 Russian financial crisis has begun to affect his image among the public.

• Spanish Formula One racing driver and double World Champion Fernando Alonso earned the nickname Teflonso following his exoneration from involvement in the Renault F1 Crashgate controversy.

• Ma Ying-jeou, President of Taiwan, has also been widely described with this metaphor as a person on which nothing seems to stick, and criticisms, scandals and mess-ups were easily and frequently shrugged off. Although the trademark "Teflon" is generally not used among the Chinese-speaking population to describe the product as a whole so it's not used to describe Ma either, people do describe Ma using the nickname that the society actually uses to describe Teflon-enhanced-cookware - a "non-stick pan" ("bu zhan guo")).

• Teflon Tim has been assigned to an American Idol contestant in its 9th season.

• In leaked US diplomatic cables it was revealed that German chancellor Angela Merkel is called Angela 'Teflon' Merkel by the staff of the Embassy of the United States in Berlin because criticism just bounces off her .