Let's use salary negotiation as the topic. When you negotiate a salary you find out as much as possible about the range and ask for a higher number than you would be willing to accept. Well, I believe TPL, who has argued for the very terms they are currently trying to change over the past seven years (finding out the salary range), is attempting to argue every point to cancel out the respondent's position (negotiating) and TPL will eventually settle with what they have argued over the past seven years (minimum they are willing to accept). This is very general to get the idea across and is not meant to be specific.