1.   This backhanded compliment is, in fact, a tribute to the imagination and commitment of community educators.

2.   And even that amounts to little more than a backhanded compliment.

3.   As Ms. Laszlo tried to change the subject to the healthy economy, Luntz gave her a backhanded compliment.

4.   A backhanded compliment, if that, but hardly the stuff of an out-of-town-by-sundown ultimatum.

5.   After Koppel received his award, Betty Friedan, the feminist author, prefaced a question about women in the work force with a somewhat backhanded compliment.

6.   Buchanan was so loquacious Wednesday that he inadvertently gave a backhanded compliment to Michael Booker, another Atlanta cornerback.

7.   Fassel then offered an apt analysis, even if it included a backhanded compliment to his own charges.

8.   Flustered art critics offered backhanded compliments as they reviewed saccharine images of winged lovers and haloed black men created without the irony that often marks contemporary work.

9.   For Cadillac, that backhanded compliment could be a lifeline.

10.   I guess I would look at it as a compliment, but a backhanded compliment.