Now they appear markedly tough-minded, both in their appetite for hardcore gore and their unsentimental willingness to ditch authors as soon as they tire of them.
Ms. Clinton's speech last night laid out a markedly tougher approach.
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany told a group of Russian editors this week that Western nations were not preparing to take a markedly tougher line toward Moscow.
The European Union also took a markedly tougher line than Mr. Obama, issuing a statement condemning the violence that resulted in loss of life.
Waleed and many other Syrians' lives got markedly tougher in August, when the UN's World Food Program WFPP) was forced to slash funding, effectively cutting off 229,000 people it categorized as "vulnerable" (the 211,000 people it calls "extremely vulnerable" still get 10 dinars per person a month).
Fox News was markedly less tough on Obama's performance, with Brit Hume and Joe Trippi praising Mitt Romney.
It was a frank and tough assessment, markedly different in tone from Peer Steinbrück, the Social Democrat who served as finance minister in the outgoing grand coalition headed by Mrs. Merkel for the past four years.
BERLIN — As foreign powers weigh further efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear program, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is sounding markedly more determined about imposing tougher sanctions on the government in Tehran.
Radical Islamism, though hardly eradicated, has calmed down markedly, thanks to good police work and tough courts.
Though gasoline direct-injection engines have improved markedly, engineers say they may actually face tougher hurdles to meet future pollution standards.
Proponents said the prospects for such a measure, which would include tougher border security and a guest worker plan, had markedly improved since Nov. 7.
