Exuded competence and decency.
Where is the competence, the decency, and the humanity?
Now, here we are fighting a rearguard defense of competence and decency.
Economic common sense, managerial competence, and basic decency have aligned like planets in a horoscope, and here's what that horoscope says: Go home, Bill.
Character, wisdom, empathy, decency and competence are essential qualities the prime minister will find hard to regain if he loses them.
You can stick with the Conservatives, who've shown competence, who've shown decency, who've shown a long-term economic plan that has turned the country round or you can put that at risk".
Its "Ethical Appeal" amounts to "a complex and sophisticated 'Trust me,' " one that "requires the rhetor to convince us not just of his intellectual acuity or technical competence, but of his basic decency and fairness and sensitivity to the audience's own hopes and fears".
First there's the man himself, square-jawed, yes, but not terribly handsome, with those protruding ears and that receding hairline, still radiating competence nonetheless and more than that, a Middle American super-dad decency that almost belies his four-star status.
Even now talk of her "competence" has been silenced by reality, there are still frequent references in public discourse to her essential human decency.
Because in Britain's new fractured polity, the centre is less a pivot between two big parties than a collection of the attributes competence, decency, moderation that most voters prize.The virtual centreAt least he tried to broaden his party's appeal.
