Word: dither
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...astonishing how many ways the Middle East's antagonists can find to thwart peace. Lately, the preferred method has been to dither. Now Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has stepped in with a proposal to goose the main parties into conversation, only to find even those modest efforts mired in debate. After an inconclusive round robin of talks in Cairo, Washington and New York, Mubarak went home warning -- not for the first time -- that a "golden opportunity" was about to be missed...
...impossible to raise taxes or cut Social Security unless the congressional leaders of both parties, as well as the President, are actively in support. What is more, there is little time to act. Under the rigid timetables set by Gramm-Rudman, Congress cannot afford, in its usual fashion, to dither all year long over the budget. If lawmakers fail to pass a budget, the automatic cuts will kick in on Oct. 1. Says Democratic Senator Don Riegle of Michigan: "Congress has never, ever, met a timetable as swift as this will be. It's like riding a bullet...
...Winter managed to dither away his political strength. First, after his supporters won a bitter struggle to have him appointed chancellor of the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss") last December, Winter waffled, accepting the post and then changing his mind a week later. Then he appeared even more irresolute by agonizing for two months over whether to challenge Cochran, making up his mind, some say, only 20 minutes before his announcement. Compared with Cochran's upbeat, exuberant performance, the bespectacled, scholarly former bond attorney's campaign is rather dispirited...
...filled either by Communist extremists or by the military. "If we do not solve this problem through the ballot," warns Jaime Cardinal Sin, the outspoken Archbishop of Manila, "I'm just too afraid that we might solve it through violence." As the factions continue to bicker and dither, many potential supporters may fall away...
...Ronald Reagan enters his sixth month in power, the has-beens have helped put Washington in a mild dither. For one thing, there are more of them around than ever before: three vigorous former Presidents, two former Vice Presidents, six former First Ladies, scores of former Cabinet officers and literally hundreds of their lesser aides and consultants. Some, like Jimmy Carter, have been discreetly silent. Nonetheless, the has-beens form an army of sorts that marches through the hearing rooms. the banquet halls and the panel shows. leaving its public assessments of Reagan and its private disagreements with what...