Word: burnish
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...because he trusts her totally," says a presidential adviser. Rice appears to have won some internal arguments--such as getting Bush to offer conditional direct talks to Iran and calling for the closure of Gitmo--but she has yet to pull off any major diplomatic breakthrough that could burnish the Bush legacy. And neoconservative allies of Bush blast Rice for pursuing diplomacy for its own sake. "When you are bereft of options, you pursue process and call it progress," says Danielle Pletka, a vice president of the American Enterprise Institute...
...flag burning amendment, however. Democrats expect Republicans to use the issue as a mobilizing tool in mid-term elections this fall. And with close to a dozen Senators considering a run for the White House in 2008, they'll all have reasons to use their votes to burnish their credentials with the base. One place you may not see the amendment again for a few years, however, is on the floor of the Senate. Frist is stepping down as majority leader after the mid-terms and McConnell is unchallenged as his replacement as top Republican-and Senate agenda-setter-should...
...Church vs. State Re "Battle of the Bishops" [may 15], on China's unauthorized ordination of two Roman Catholic bishops: It is more than ironic that while China pretends to burnish its international prestige through improved diplomatic relations, it is prepared to flout ancient church law to assert its authority over all areas of life of its population. The decision by Beijing to appoint two bishops of its own appears to be a cynical attempt to increase the schism between the 4 million Chinese Catholics who worship through the state-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and the 8 million Chinese...
...there is hope: some people learn that valuable lesson in prison. Gary Roe Santa Cruz, California, U.S. China's New Bishops Re "Battle of the bishops" [May 15], on China's unauthorized ordination of two Roman Catholic bishops: It is more than ironic that while China pretends to burnish its international prestige through improved diplomatic relations, it is prepared to flout ancient church law to assert its authority over all areas of the religious as well as the political life of its population. The decision by Beijing to appoint two bishops of its own while being fully aware...
Although the Bush Administration at times overstated al-Zarqawi's indispensability to a predominantly homegrown insurgency, al-Zarqawi himself was a master of self-promotion. The high school dropout learned to use the Internet to burnish his image, recruit fighters and propagate his dream of perpetual jihad against infidels everywhere. It was his name that filled collection boxes in extremist mosques across the Islamic world. The National Counterterrorism Center believes that militants linked to al-Zarqawi may be operating in as many as 40 countries. In Iraq his dark charisma turned him into a figure of myth and legend...