Reverbiage: Stories from NPR tagged 'disappointment'

Iraq's Drama: An Easier Sell On The Stage...

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST

Iraq-war movies always seem to flop: Stop Loss, Redacted, Rendition, In the Valley of Elah — all were box-office disappointments. But several plays about Iraq have been hits. Why does Iraq work on stage but not on screen?

Elation, Skepticism As World Reacts To Obama Win

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:38:00 EST

Eyes all over the world turned to the United States as Americans elected their first black president Tuesday. The news of Barack Obama's victory over rival John McCain was greeted with a range of emotions — from joy to disappointment to skepticism. Here, a roundup from around the globe.

Conceding, McCain Urges Supports To Back Obama

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:00:00 EST

Those who turned out for John McCain's post-election party have expressed a range of emotion, including anger, sadness and disappointment. McCain delivered his concession speech in Phoenix, Arizona. He pledged to do everything in his power to help the new President-elect, and he urged supporters to do the same.

'Nights and Weekends': A Relationship In Fragments

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EDT

A lovely, gentle relationship drama about loss and disappointment; impressionistic and intimate, it captures moments, but also evolutions, the unchartable rhythms of a romance diminishing.

Sparring Partners Helps Others Excel In Olympics

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Some athletes have been training for a long time to go the Beijing Olympics — only they were never planning to compete. These sparring partners get many of the perks, but must swallow the disappointment of not being on the Olympic team.

Lil Wayne: Uneven but Undeniable

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:10:00 EDT

The New Orleans rapper's gremlin groan carries him through Tha Carter III, an uneven album that, for all its eccentricities and disappointments, proves him to be an undeniably great MC.

A Weekend of Triumph and Sadness in Sports

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:00:00 EDT

It was a busy weekend for sports. In tennis, Rafael Nadal won his fourth straight French Open title by beating Roger Federer. In horse racing Big Brown was a big disappointment. And broadcasting legend Jim McKay died. Host Renee Montagne talks sports with commentator John Feinstein.

My Naked Lunch

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:21:00 EDT

Dick Meyer's first week at NPR came with a dash of disappointment: the sandwich shop he frequents for lunch has closed.

Loss of Contract Stuns Boeing Workers, Neighbors

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:31:00 EST

Shock, disappointment and anger abound in the state of Washington as Boeing loses a $40 billion Air Force contract to European rival EADS. Boeing had supplied the Pentagon with refueling tankers for nearly 50 years.

Romney Wins Michigan's GOP Primary

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:10:00 EST

NPR is projecting that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has won the Michigan Republican primary. After disappointments in Iowa and New Hampshire, Romney needed to win in Michigan to revive his presidential bid.

Web Site Alerts Sports Fans of Game Progress

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 08:00:00 EST

A man and his robot, RUWTbot, spare you the disappointment of missing a sports game or learning its outcome before watching the taped version. Areyouwatchingthis.com sends e-mails when televised games get good with the score, time left, and channel turn to watch.

Survivor: The Case For John McCain

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:19:13 EST

So now we all know why John McCain didn't get discouraged when his presidential campaign came crashing down around him last summer. It turns out the fourth-term senator and former POW had a prescient notion about the future direction of the 2008 contest. Looking around him on the national stage, McCain could not discern a face with a future on Mount Rushmore. So he decided to stick around and give people a chance to come around. And come around some have. As the holidays approach, McCain has found gift after gift at his doorstep. First it was the endorsement of the Manchester Union-Leader, the torchbearer for "Live Free or Die" politics in New Hampshire for generations. Never known for favoring anti-establishment types, the Union Leader still endorsed the Arizonan in a salute to his character and perseverance. Then came The Boston Globe, widely read throughout Red Sox nation, and the Portsmouth Herald, another audible voice in the state that matters most to McCain. The Arizonan also won the backing of the Des Moines Register, the largest paper in Iowa, home of the first caucuses on January 3. This may be the least of his converts, as he has far less invested in Iowa than he has in New Hampshire, and the Register probably will not move many Republicans his way. Back in New Hampshire, however, McCain completed his sudden surge of support by rolling out his Senate colleague Joe Lieberman, the former Democrat who ran as an independent last year after his party denied him renomination. McCain came to Connecticut to stump for Lieberman in 2006, helping him corral the majority of Republican votes that sent him back to Washington. Taken together, all these salutes should help McCain challenge Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, for first place in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary on January 8. Each of the endorsements speaks to a different slice of the primary electorate, from conservative Republicans to moderate independents, an especially crucial slice for McCain. The timing of all this good news is extra helpful to McCain, who has been battling former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for second behind Romney. Giuliani has shown signs of easing up in New Hampshire (as he long ago did in Iowa) so as to concentrate on his firewall state of Florida, which votes three weeks later. That means McCain, if he wins New Hampshire, could be in position to contest later states despite his near-total dependence on free media. There was always a case to be made that McCain would return to the front ranks before the nominee was finally chosen. His performances in the debates have featured a quiet dignity and self-respect all too rare in recent presidential politics. The other candidates often defer to him or even praise him, seeking to attach themselves to his reputation for decency, his war hero status and aura of independence. A late arriving viewer might well wonder why McCain has been so out of it through the past six months. Indeed, he began 2007 as a top tier contender. As the runner-up in 2000 he put aside his disappointment and campaigned hard for Bush. He did it again in 2004. So by the usual Republican protocol, he had a right to say 2008 was his turn. He remained a favorite of the news media, as he had been since his days on the stump for other GOP presidential candidates in the mid-1990s. He seemed the one true conservative who might best draw Democratic and independent votes away from Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. It was a strong case, but it quickly fell apart. McCain turned 70 and looked less than robust. He was on the wrong side of the polls on the two most salient issues of the year -- Iraq and immigration. His steadfast support of President Bush on both put him at odds with most voters regardless of party. Moreover, his new willingness to make nice with religious conservatives and others he had fought with in 2000 was widely viewed as pandering -- even as his old adversaries refused to be won over. By late spring, severe problems emerged within his operation: too much squabbling and spending and far too little fundraising. When it became known that McCain could barely meet his campaign payroll in the summer months, his candidacy appeared all but moribund. As a consequence, a chastened McCain returned to the role of insurgent that had suited him best. And gradually, the climate has become more clement. The improved security picture in Iraq reduced the salience of that issue, and the death of the president's immigration bill reduced some of the tension on that front. But most important to McCain's comeback has been the failure of his rivals to fill the void. Giuliani, Romney, former Senator Fred Thompson and now Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, have all auditioned for frontrunner without nailing the role. And that's why close observers of the race have turned their eyes once again on the man who began the year with such high hopes. He may not be the one at the 2008 convention, but he will be a force to reckon with before the process is over. We should never have counted him out.

Romney Makes His Pitch

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:53:03 EST

Sure, there was some bait-and-switch in the speech Mitt Romney delivered on "Faith in America" this week, but those who'd expected the presidential candidate to grasp the nettle of his Mormon faith must blame their disappointment on themselves. Romney himself never said he would actually defend his familial faith against charges of cultism. That expectation was a product of our own imaginations: How, we asked, could the former governor of Massachusetts address the nation on religion without discussing his own? We should have known better. Despite the breathless build-up, this speech at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in Texas was not going to be about the Latter-day Saints or any of the beliefs that set it apart from the classic Judeo-Christian tradition. In fact, it never made sense for Romney to talk theology, or get into any detailed aspect of his religion. What he needed instead was to assert his own devotion to his faith -- " the faith of my fathers." Devotion of this kind is of great value to people of faith in general, and those are the people the candidate wanted to reach with this speech. So, no surprise, the word "Mormon" appeared only once in a text of 2,500 words. And while Brigham Young did come up in a parade of religious dissenters (rubbing elbows with Roger Williams), Young was not identified as Mormon. Joseph Smith, the religion's founder, went unmentioned as did the Book of Mormon, which Smith's followers put alongside the Bible as divinely inspired. Romney did, however, mention Jesus Christ twice, and he leaned on the word "denomination." So it was easy to get the impression, once again, that Mormons are just like Lutherans (whom he mentioned admiringly) or Methodists or Baptists. The takeaway for an average listener would be that Mormonism resembles these other "denominations" in church doctrine just as it does in church architecture. In fact, it was widely observed that Romney's speech, save a sentence or two, might have been given by most any of the candidates for president, if not all of them. Except, of course, that none of the other candidates could have commanded 25 minutes of cable news coverage for what amounted to a long campaign commercial. Only Romney could do that, and he could do it only because Mormonism remains an object of curiosity in the culture and a goad to voyeurism in the media. Give the man his due. A world-class salesman in his career, Romney has not always been at his best in TV debates. But this occasion found him at the top of his game. Wrapping himself in reverence for religion-in-general, and repeatedly saluting the ideals of the founding fathers, Romney looked and sounded more presidential than he has to date. And let's remember, his practical goal here was not to change anybody's mind about Mormonism. It was rather to soothe the media beast and provide good material for his defenders in the evangelical Christian and Catholic communities. And he has some highly effective defenders: Just before the speech, he was getting a spirited boost on CNN from Ralph Reed. Remember him? He ran the Christian Coalition in its heyday a dozen years ago. So score this media event a success for the overall Romney effort. It will not win over the hardcore foes of the Latter Day Saints; nothing is likely to do so. But it will probably help the campaign with people of faith in general, a far larger category, and one Romney needs to win to keep the GOP nomination away from Rudy Giuliani. At the same time, there could be a price for whatever he gains. Romney made several remarks at College Station that will not sit well with some, including some religious voters and others of a more secular turn of mind. Early in the speech he linked religious freedom to political freedom, suggesting they were not just compatible but co-dependent. ("Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom.") But haven't people pursued faith with great fervor even in countries and eras wherein political freedom was unknown? But the real thorn in this particular speech pricks those who care about church and state separation. Although Romney himself invoked the famous John F. Kennedy speech to Protestant pastors in 1960 in his own speech, the two texts were at odds on this point. Kennedy said he might have a different religion, but that it didn't need to matter in governing. Romney said he might have a different religion, but that his religion was good for governing because all religions are. Speaking specifically to the sealing off of church and state, Romney saluted the idea as expressed by the founding fathers ("no religious test for office"). But he eagerly added that the good idea had been taken too far in modern times. Banning religion from the public square was wrong, he said, drawing himself erect. And the audience of invited guests gave him a sustained ovation. Romney made it clear he believed that religion was an integral part of the movements that ended slavery and racial discrimination, not to mention the movement to ban abortion. So while the candidate insisted he would not "define my candidacy by my religion," he also insisted on defining good public policy largely by reference to religion. That may be a relatively safe place to stand in the Iowa caucuses, or in the rest of the Republican nominating process this winter and spring. But it raises questions that will be around for a good deal longer.

U.S. Strikes Delicate Balance on Pakistan

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:12:00 EST

The Bush administration has done little more than declare its disappointment over the situation in Pakistan. While the U.S. has urged Musharraf to put Pakistan back on the road to democracy analysts fear that a lukewarm response could come back to haunt them.

U.S. Carefully Adjusts to Musharraf, Pakistan

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 16:00:00 EDT

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is calling Gen. Pervez Musharraf's declaration of a state of emergency in Pakistan "regrettable," as the White House expresses disappointment with Musharraf, a key U.S. ally. Host Jacki Lyden discusses with Teresita Schaffer, a former diplomat and director of the South Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Bettye LaVette Picks Up the Pieces of a Lost Career

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:23:00 EDT

The '60s soul singer, newly discovered after decades of disappointment, sounds as if she means every word of Willie Nelson's "Somebody Pick Up My Pieces." Does any indie soul singer bring more guts, more conviction and more emotion to her singing?

Democratic Hopefuls Adjust Iraq Rhetoric

Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:53:00 EDT

Congress expects top U.S. officials in Iraq to report military success and political disappointment in that country when they deliver a key assessment in three weeks. Democratic hopefuls for president are adjusting their statements and positions accordingly.

Democrats Disappoint Abortion-Rights Advocates

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 06:00:00 EDT

Abortion rights advocates cheered when Democrats took control of Congress. But hopes that their agenda would become a legislative priority have since faded. proposed increase to fund abstinence-only sex education programs.

Obama Cites Drop in World's Regard for U.S.

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:00:00 EDT

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, in what his campaign billed as a major foreign policy address, spoke of the "disappointment" the world feels in the United States -- and by extension, President Bush and the war in Iraq. The junior senator from Illinois said the 2008 election offers an opportunity to change all that.

New York's Boo Birds Have the Right Idea

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 07:10:00 EST

For many athletes, New York City is an intimidating place to play. Fans have high expectations and aren't afraid to boo players who disappoint them. If you can take it there, you can take it anywhere. And booing might just be a very healthy thing to do.

Hollywood Cautious Despite 'Borat' Buzz

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:01:00 EST

For months, the Internet has been full of buzz about Sacha Baron Cohen's unnerving comedy Borat. But studio executives wonder whether it will meet the same fate as the summertime box-office disappointment Snakes on a Plane.

U.S. Sports Teams Suffer String of Global Defeats

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 13:00:00 EDT

In recent weeks, American national teams have failed to win in golf at the Ryder Cup, in tennis at the Davis Cup and in women's basketball. These disappointments follow disastrous U.S. performances in soccer's World Cup and the men's basketball world championships.

Rainer Maria Ditches Accusation for Empathy

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 14:38:00 EDT

"You're so terrified / so terrified," Caithlin De Marrais sings with neither rancor nor disappointment, and the reason becomes clear as she hits that word "so" a third time, spins it from an intensifier into a conjunction, and sings, "So am I," recasting everything to admit to her own weaknesses.

French Contribution to U.N. Force Disappoints

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:00:00 EDT

U.N. diplomats hoped for thousands of French troops in the new peacekeeping force in Lebanon. To their disappointment, President Jacques Chirac today announces that France will provide only 200 more troops for the new U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon. France already has 200 troops in the existing U.N. force in Lebanon.

George Soros, Maintaining Political Interest

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 10:04:00 EDT

Financier George Soros estimates he donated $27 million to organizations devoted to defeating President Bush in 2004. He has since expressed disappointment with both parties. Soros talks with Scott Simon about the U.S. political scene.