He claims to have devoted several months to smoothing ruffled feathers elsewhere, especially in France.
McConnell's remarks have not only ruffled feathers with Ontario's doctors but also with government officials across the border.
The soft-spoken Bansal smooths ruffled feathers when the zealot Saylor goes too far.
As Clinton sought to soothe ruffled feathers, the French government blasted WikiLeaks.
Smoothing over ruffled feathers and easing concerns and making things right with downright irate shoppers should be matter of course for retailers today.
FORBES: J.C. Penney Is Listening, And Getting A Huge Response
The BBC's Karen Allen in Kabul says Gen Dunford's comments seek to smooth ruffled feathers following growing sensitivity about civilian deaths during anti-insurgent operations.
Acknowledging the positive things people have done to get the organization where it is today can soothe ruffled feathers and encourage those who are reluctant to change.
FORBES: Is Everyone In Your Organization Running The Same Race?
He ruffled feathers when he insulted former Education Minister Naledi Pandor, who is respected in ANC circles, during an address to protesting students at a university in Pretoria.
Predictably, the in-your-face, Western management style ruffled feathers.
Economists like Robert Reischauer ruffled feathers several years ago by pointing out that talented, driven kids are more likely to go to college in the first place--that they succeed, in other words, because of their innate abilities, not because of their formal education.
And Alberto Gonzales, who has been nominated for the job, has already ruffled liberal feathers.
Mr Levitt has also ruffled some feathers with his work on imprisonment.
The 28-year-old seemingly ruffled some feathers with the playoff-bound 49ers and caught just 15 balls for 181 yards and no scores while dealing with multiple injuries.
Boy George this week has agreed to return an icon he bought from a London art dealer without knowing its origin, and Ricky Gervais ruffled many feathers during the Golden Glob awards, which he hosted.
Unfortunately, it would be par for the Bush Administration's course if, having now reluctantly delivered this long-overdue slap on the wrist, the Secretary of State were to be dispatched to Belgrade to smooth ruffled Serbian feathers.
Zoff had his tail feathers ruffled by his team's surprising inability to see off their group opponents with greater comfort in the qualifying stages.
Sadik-Khan hasn't screwed up, but she has ruffled plenty of feathers.
Pupils at a County Down primary school have taken a beady-eyed friend under their wing - but the creature appears to have ruffled a few feathers.
Mr Hassan is good at cultural re-engineering: at Pharmacia, he was widely credited with smoothing feathers ruffled by an earlier transatlantic merger and bringing a sense of unity to the firm.
Twitter has ruffled a few feathers recently, so when CEO Dick Costolo took the stage at the Online News Association conference in San Francisco, he took the opportunity to put some minds at rest.
"That was the first year they'd been put in trees at the cemetery, and that's what ruffled people's feathers, " said Carmen Small, of nearby Robbinston.
However, the lawmaker's direct style has ruffled a number of feathers in Washington, and Emanuel is known as one of the toughest partisan fighters on Capitol Hill.
CNN: Emanuel expected to bring 'tough-minded' approach to White House
The recent ruling that effectively bans third-party phone unlocking has ruffled more than a few feathers, and the people have spoken with their electronic signatures -- 114, 322 of them, to be exact.
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