soft-pedal

“For local politicians, it’s a pretty easy call when 60, 70, 80% of their county voted ‘no’ on the issue, to soft pedal it and not treat it like a serious crime,” he said.

The Republicans needed to employ "hard-hitting kind of spots with a man's voice, no soft pedal" that would tar Democrats as the party that would tax working people, according to a story in Politico.

His 1988 album for Eno’s Opal Records, “The White Arcades,” was powered by Budd’s “soft pedal” piano technique, which employed one of the instrument’s foot pedals to “soften” the notes while subtly changing their tones.

“They were like, ‘Don’t just soft pedal this.

I thought that later I might also play the piano, something quiet, using the soft pedal.