Word: skittishness
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House Republicans, a volatile and skittish group by nature, were worried enough about their re-elections to pass a massive, old-fashioned, pork-laden, budget-busting spending bill last week. The rallying cry was, "Take care of your district!" Meaning, "Protect your seat!" In district after district where Clinton is running plenty strong atop a buoyant economy, the President is a Wizard, a witch doctor, the guy with spooky, powerful voodoo; he can outlive, outlast, outmaneuver anything, even multiple, degrading, humiliating sex scandals. The G.O.P. members see the stories and then look at his numbers and look back...
...others are of two minds. They see Saddam as brutal and menacing, but they don't think he's about to do anything terrible to them right now. They assume that if he gets nasty and tries to attack again, the U.S. will slap him down. But they are skittish about provoking a sleeping beast and fear he might retaliate. They don't trust Saddam's judgment under bombardment, assuming that he could use his terror weapons as a last resort. A Jordanian official says, "You don't poke a lion...
...week, which leads the candidates to demagogue on the IMF deal rather than implement it quickly. Koreans who are not thoroughly disheartened by the implosion of their huge, highly industrialized economy are humiliated and resentful at the thought of a bailout from abroad. That makes it even harder for skittish politicians to impose the draconian remedies South Korea must swallow...
...Waka" Green '99), is crushed by the news, but he suffers from chronic ambivalence, a weakness of conviction so severe that when discussing their grim future, Prior bemoans, "I wind up comforting you. As Prior's affliction confines him increasingly to be and eventually to a hospital, Louis gets skittish and leaves him, largely to complain to everyone else about his own suffering...
...Weavers and was one of the three conductors of the Toscanini Chamber Orchestra last year. At Friday's performance, he appeared a little nervous, but took control of the orchestra as soon as he mounted the podium. His conducting was clear and expressive, though at time slightly tense and skittish--probably due simply to nerves. Every once in a while he appeared to forget he was in front of an audience and relaxed a little, becoming more expressive in his conducting and more enjoyable to watch. He did have a very good handle on the technical aspects of conducting, tackling...