In recent public forums and news conferences, Mr. Badillo has accused Mr. Bloomberg of trying to buy the election through his advertising campaign; has raised questions about several sexual harassment lawsuits filed against Mr. Bloomberg's company, Bloomberg L.P.; and most recently has said Mr. Bloomberg lacks the mettle to lead the city in the event of a race riot.
Opposing an independent regulator enshrined in law will delight the British press ahead of the 2015 election but may raise concern inside the coalition government that Cameron lacks the mettle to stand up to media barons such as Rupert Murdoch.
Aécio Neves, the likely candidate of the biggest opposition group, the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy (PDSB), seems to lack the mettle to face a strong incumbent.
The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, reported that the board thought Sullivan "lacked the mettle" to make difficult cuts, like the elimination of the classics and German departments.
Jamie Vardy scored a hat-trick and Andy King one goal as Claudio Ranieri's men blew away a Pep Guardiola side who lacked the mettle to go with their frilly pretensions.
Mrs. Clinton opened up lines of critique that were later picked up by Mr. McCain: that Mr. Obama's stated openness to meeting with the leaders of rogue countries "without preconditions" was naïve; that for all of his great oratory, he was not offering substance; and that he lacked the mettle and experience to lead a nation through crisis.
And yet he seems to lack the mettle to simply own up to what he said and millions have heard.
"You have mastered the sword but your heart lacks resolve," Jiaxin declares before setting her a mettle-testing challenge – to kill her own cousin, Tian Ji'an Chang Chenn), the governor of Weibo, to whom she was once betrothed.
The Texans have drafted smartly, signed good free agents and have been in contention before, only to stumble down the stretch, contributing to an identity as perhaps a team that lacked the appropriate mettle to be a champion.
Either course would have been defensible; floundering between them suggested a lack of mettle.
