Controversy has followed him, but he has stout defenders.

"You are obviously a stout defender of Long Beach Oil.

As a supporter of the war in Iraq, he has been both a stout defender of the Bush administration and a severe critic.

Little by little the superior numbers of Jaspin's troops and Nimrood's black Legion wore down the stout defenders.

A specialist of the linguistic heritage of Quebec, he also is a stout defender of Quebec independence.

But the battle cries of the Scarlet Guard sounded across the gate, long, ululating howls that would have shaken the morale of the stoutest defenders.

Once a stout defender of immigrants, Mr. Giuliani now talks about sending people to the back of the line and installing "heat-seeking equipment" at the border.

At the Brussels summit, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain emerged as the stoutest defender of the traditionalist deterrence position.

In 1818, they were allowed to return to Naples, and on the proclamation of the constitution in 1820, the Poerios were among the stoutest defenders of the newly-won freedom.

Often called to give evidence before government enquiries, he was a stout defender of the part played by the Navigation Acts and mercantile marine in the prosperity and defence of the nation.

Probably few of the most stout defenders of direct state welfare provision, once they were apprised of the costs and failings of the asylums in question, would have argued against strategies for their rationalization.

Toward morning the Van Valcks decided that they must place this difficult problem in the lap of Dr. Sterk, a man of demon- strated competence and a stout defender of Afrikanerdom.

More grave in political terms was a sarcastic attack on Mr. Waldheim by Jorg Haider, leader of the nationalistic Freedom Party, which had until recently been one of the President's stoutest defenders.

In public he remained the stout defender, and when he flew down to Canaveral to see the majestic machine in place on the launch pad, even his most secret doubts were brushed away and he told the press in complete honesty.

I wondered which utterly inappropriate person would be given the 'honour' of covering this story: Bea Campbell, stout defender of Karen Matthew's and scourge of satanic ritual abusers everywhere; or maybe self-confessed child hater Julie Bindel.

Q Map The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) considers itself not just the governing body of a bunch of Irish games but also the stout defender of a cultural identity that is ingrained in Ireland's sense of self.

Donald W. Goodrich can ask the same question about his son Peter, a passenger on United Airlines Flight 175, whom he described as physically imposing and a stout defender of others, easier to imagine fighting hijackers than herded to the back of a plane.

Cato never envisioned an existence without Caepio, his stout defender against Servilia as she heaped scorn on his auburn head because he was a descendant of Cato the Censor's disgraceful second marriage to the daughter of his own slave.

Prefect Tara Campbell, leader of the new Northwind Highlanders, is a stout defender of the Republic of the Sphere and its founder Devlin Stone, stating "In the name of Devlin Stone, we will survive."

Among the stoutest defenders of "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," the best-selling book arguing that Mr. Kerry lied about his record of service in Vietnam, is the columnist Robert Novak.

Smith was a stout defender of The Boot Room system of promoting managers from within the club, he appointed assistant manager Bob Paisley to succeed Bill Shankly in 1974 and followed this by appointing Paisley's assistant Joe Fagan to manager in 1983.

And in due course the Abb6 Desmoulins found that he was more attuned to the sober precepts of John Calvin than to the rantings of his bishop at Arniens; like hundreds of priests in Huguenot areas, he changed his religion, becoming a stout defender of his new faith.