Now Mr. Romney might find some of Richard's stratagems déjà vu (like having other people besmirch your rivals' reputations) or unfeasible in these, uh, civilized times (like hiring assassins to dispatch competitors).
Post-Soviet Russian politics has its own tradition of kompromat, or compromising material designed to erode a rival's reputation.
But Mr. Romney, challenging his rival's reputation for staunch conservatism, attacked Mr. Santorum for acknowledging that he had backed it only out of loyalty to President George W. Bush.
General Ahmar "knows that there is always a possibility that Ahmed Ali may be able to play a political role in any future agreement," the diplomat said, and would like to damage his rival's reputation before that can take place.
Mr. Ablyazov maintains that BTA would have paid off its loans had he remained at the helm and that the enormous charge-off was a ploy by Mr. Nazarbayev to seize control of BTA and damage a political rival's reputation.
Through no fault of their own, they will never rival the reputations of Eisenhower, MacArthur, Patton, Bradley, Grant, Sherman, Lee, Jackson and the other heroes of our biggest wars.
"If you don't take them in, they could be snapped up by a rival and their reputation increases".
And yet there they were on Monday, sent home in the first round by a longtime rival with a reputation for postseason failure.
Meanwhile the prudish Arsinoé (Alison Fraser) plots to wreck her rival Celimene's reputation, exposing her as a scandalous flirt even as Arsinoé thrusts her own ample décolletage before Frank's dumbfounded eyes.
General Muhammadu Buhari, his rival, has a reputation as one of the more honest and well-intentioned of the country's military rulers, but not as one of the most astute.
