Word: downplay
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Those closest to the talks did all they could to downplay the possibility of a rift. "I am not prepared to say that we have made substantial progress," said Ambassador Robert Gallucci, head of the U.S. delegation, but "the talks were serious and businesslike." Both sides strained to say nothing critical of the other's position. "It's one of those moments where we try not to say anything at all," said a U.S. official. Lower-level diplomats continued to meet over the weekend, and Gallucci will resume discussions Wednesday with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kang...
...power provides a toehold on more extensive relations. He said the next step-- if Cuba lives up to its promise to halt the 3,000-a-day refugee flow in return for 20,000 U.S. visas a year--would be talks on lifting the longtime U.S. embargo. U.S. officials downplay the possibility of lifting the three-decade-old embargo. "There is a paradox," the former Cuban Foreign Minister and longtime Castro aide said in New York City. "The embargo remains, the lack of contacts remains, but the agreement means that we have normal relations in one area." Alarcon said...
President Clinton's pollster, Stan Greenberg, has told Democratic incumbents to run on the strength of their own accomplishments and to downplay their connections to Clinton, according to a memo uncovered by the New York Times. Greenberg's "Strategic Guide to the 1994 Election," which the Times said was sent to a few Democratic leaders and White House officials a month ago, figures that the Dems have a better shot at winning if they stick to local issues, like crime. "This is not about improving Bill Clinton's image," he wrote. "This is a winning agenda...
...with a passion (perhaps a bit cerebral by Romantic standards, but potent passion nevertheless) that stemmed from his religious frustration as a staunch Roman Catholic in Anglican England. Similarly, though Bach was "only" a Lutheran, his music resonates with passion that many of his interpreters and biographers sought to downplay or even negate, thinking it incongruous with the strict Baroque compositional forms...
Astronomers couldn't agree, though, on how big the pieces were, and thus how explosive the impacts would actually be. Just hours before the pictures came down, Levy had tried to downplay expectations. "Even if we see nothing spectacular," he argued, "this is still a scientifically important event." But when Hammel had brought the word -- and the champagne -- Levy and the Shoemakers could barely contain themselves. Said a beaming Eugene Shoemaker: "This is just the best possible news. And remember, this isn't even the biggest piece...