"Sometimes failing is the best thing in life, " he said.

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Failing sometimes is inevitable unless one is protected from competition by regulation or entry barriers.

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Republican Internet consultant Patrick Ruffini sees Romney's ad challenge as evidence the GOP, sometimes criticized for failing to connect on the Web, is starting to get serious about tapping its potential.

NPR: Mitt Romney Involves Supporters in Campaign Ads

Sometimes the stories even become more intricate, involving failing businesses, gambling addictions and other personal failures.

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For three months a nurse went undercover for Panorama secretly filming the indignities faced by people seriously ill, and sometimes dying, on an acute ward in a failing hospital.

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