incapacitating him from successfully compounding a tale of this sort

Wherever the parties stand, at the end of the day, the person with the swing vote is Mr. Flowers, who has the most riding on the deal — financially and reputationally.

He went on to win a gold medal.

Being a technopeasant, I took his word for it and bought the rabbit ears for an additional sum. When I got home and uncrated the set, I discovered it had a built-in antenna and that I did not need the extra one.