They ask plaintively: With extremists on both sides, how we can have civilized discourse and compromise?

FORBES: Psst: The Tea Party Is Mainstream Despite Everything You Hear

"I'm cold, " I plaintively expressed, more than once, but each time my obvious constitutional weakness was met with strict disapproval.

WSJ: My Foreign-Exchange Family, the Nudists

That created its own drama with builders, protesting sky-high interest rates, plaintively mailing two by fours to the Fed.

FORBES: Meet Rep. Kevin Brady: The Six Trillion Dollar Man

Why should Turkey implement difficult reforms to meet European standards, some ask plaintively, if EU membership will not be forthcoming in return?

ECONOMIST: Anchors aweigh

Won't the talk in the Commission report of "empowering" people and communities simply vanish, squeaking plaintively, into the vast cavern of public bureaucracy?

BBC: Sympathetic ear for 'flawed' social report

Plaintively, he flourishes a sheaf of polite letters to Sir John suggesting meetings, and another sheaf of slightly less polite letters brushing him off.

ECONOMIST: Face value

Outside the building we're staying in, the non-stop, looped recordings of "God is great" continue to sing plaintively across the city from half a dozen mosques.

BBC: Libya: Misrata's terrifying routine

If it's the sonic equivalent of darkness and what may be lurking there, then Gibson's fragile voice and plaintively strummed guitar soon emerge as a flicker of light.

NPR: First Listen: Laura Gibson's 'Beasts Of Seasons'