Word: softened
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...gift for inspiring affection with a word of greeting and a handshake--may be even truer of Lewinsky. By the end of her grand jury testimony, according to the transcripts, the courtroom resembled an Oprah studio taping. The woman who'd used broad smiles and cute pet names to soften up the Commander in Chief had turned the grand jurors to pudding. "We've all fallen short," one assured her. "We sin every...
...powers to negotiate trade agreements; Wednesday saw them defer a vote on IMF funding until September. "Republicans are delaying the IMF vote to build up their leverage in September's budget fight," says TIME correspondent Jay Carney. "By introducing fast-track at the same time, they're trying to soften corporate criticism of their IMF stand by supporting pro-business legislation -- and making the Democrats squirm by reviving their most divisive issue...
...sits, theater-in-the-round style, on opposing sides of a long stage. At one end is a two-level block of cells; at the other, the warden's office, where every prop--desk, telephone, picture frames, even the American flag--is a grim steel gray. He doesn't soften the melodramatic excesses, yet he emphasizes the metaphorical overtones. There are references to Mussolini and Hitler ("that monkey with the trick mustache"); a Jewish convict laments, "I come of a people that are used to suffer"; and the harrowing scenes in the prison's steamy torture chamber are an eerie...
...that either side lacks for incentive to soften its stance. GM is fast running out of parts to supply its assembly lines nationwide, and conservative estimates put the company's losses at $50 million a day. The workers stand to take a big financial hit themselves; if they do not return to work by June 26, they lose a week's worth of union-won "holiday pay" for the first half of GM's annual two-week plant shutdown, which begins June...
This puts a burden on the stars, for the movie has to run on their charm. Ford's cranky masculinity is, of course, a known quantity, although it's always fun to watch him simmer, snort and eventually soften. Snub-nosed, wide-eyed and high-spirited, Heche has an equally conventional transition to make, from Xanex-popping, would-be sophisticate with minimal survival skills to a woman who can bop a bad guy with a fallen tree branch and help repair the airplane for a getaway. She is also encumbered with a tiresome fiance (David Schwimmer), who takes...