The partisan editor put one red chair and one blue chair in the hall. (partisan: biased, partial, one-sided) The election had been a landslide, but the victorious faction had promised a bipartisan debate. (landslide: rout, sweeping victory, overwhelming win; faction: bloc, wing, camp; bipartisan: two-party, cross-party) Both speakers were to receive eight minutes. The liberal candidate accused the other of treating conservatism as a refusal to move. (liberal: progressive, reform-minded; conservatism: traditionalism, conventionalism, orthodoxy) The ultraconservative baker said liberalism did not explain why the oven behind his shop had to move at all. (ultraconservative: extremely conservative, archconservative, deeply traditionalist; liberalism: liberal thought, liberal political philosophy)
From the red chair came an impassioned defense of a progressive building plan. (progressive: reform-minded, forward-looking, reformist) From the blue came an equally passionate defense of the existing statute. (statute: law, legislative act, enactment) The legislative committee had reserved the right to amend it. (legislative: lawmaking, law-making; reserved: retained, kept, preserved) A statutory deadline would arrive at midnight. (statutory: legislated, prescribed by law, required by statute) There was no time for a pundit to turn every disagreement into a grand contest of ideology. (pundit: expert, commentator, analyst; ideology: belief system, worldview, doctrine)
The baker set a timer beside the microphone. When his opponent's eight minutes ran out, she was halfway through reading the engineer's letter. He lent her his remaining time. The letter said the oven could stay if its chimney moved a foot. (stay: remain, stay put, be left in place) The audience applauded its first truly collective decision. (collective: joint, shared, communal) Someone at the back asked whether the chairs could stay, too.