1.   A rhetorical device with which to disarm his critics?

2.   His tact and political skills disarmed his critics.

3.   Bush seemed determined to disarm his critics, lampooning his bad grades at Yale and his heavy drinking in his lighthearted address.

4.   But before the shooting gallery gets really crowded, Craven sought to disarm the critics, at least in his case.

5.   Freeport-McMoRan Copper, the largest single American investor in Indonesia, is trying other strategies besides public relations to disarm its critics.

6.   Hollywood is inadvertently doing its best to disarm critics by unfurling a record number of films marked by stupefying degrees of dullness or triviality, or both.

7.   Its architects say they formulated the proposed statute to disarm critics and reassure skeptics by providing some traction on what could otherwise be a slippery slope.

8.   On the other hand, the president has at least temporarily disarmed his critics.

9.   The announcement also helps disarm critics who have accused the industry of dragging its feet on electric car production.

10.   It has tried to disarm critics by being more forthcoming with news of accidents, tightening laws and making a show of punishing those it finds responsible.