Word: backgrounding
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...fate of Robert Bork, who himself fell victim to the Senate after a similarly brusing confirmation battle in which his conservative views were treated with the same contempt that once met Fortas' liberal ideas, lingers in the background of this biography. Murphy makes the connection explicit in his preface and his epilogue. But a crucial difference remains...
...nature of the job may also have taken its toll. Japanese managing directors, unlike general managers of U.S. teams, seldom arrange trades or put together rosters. Yet they are held responsible if the team fares badly. They usually have no background in the sport and are employed directly by the large corporations that finance the teams. Furuya, who had worked since 1955 for the Hanshin Electric Railway Co., the Tigers' owner, oversaw operations at Koshien Stadium before being appointed managing director. Furuya was "too earnest, sincere and had too strong a sense of responsibility," observed noted Sports Commentator Shinya Sasaki...
...publicity barrage choreographed last week by George Bush's strategists was designed to portray his Veep-selection process as dignified and judicious. Much to their satisfaction, that is precisely what front-page stories soon reported: discreet phone calls to 20 candidates, quiet background checks by Washington Lawyer Robert Kimmitt, and no public tryouts. "George Bush knows all these people well," said Campaign Manager Lee Atwater. "We don't have to run a political Gong Show." But the process may soon get bumpy; Bush tends to waffle when faced with conflicting advice because, as an aide puts it, "he hates...
...home alone. At day care, Katie's mood alternates between detached boredom and rapt anticipation. One moment she is like an engine revving up, fast and eager. Then she lapses to a slow idle. Whatever internal rhythm Katie is moving to, it is set against a steady background beat of group activity swirling around...
Defenders of the existing system say sentencing decisions are based on objective measures such as prior arrests, employment history and stability of family background, factors that are commonly believed to predict whether a culprit will err again. But critics argue that these standards stack the deck against a member of a minority group; they are likened to the literacy tests once used to prevent Southern blacks from voting. "Some of the criteria that sound neutral and non-racially discriminatory are in effect proxies for race," says Criminologist Marvin Wolfgang...