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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Can we please get rid of the passive voice?
Posted by Jill | 7:07 AM
Is anyone else as sick of non-accountable accountability as I am? In recent days, we've seen Administration official after official come forward and claim responsiblity for the various disasters of the criminals running this government without actually taking responsibility. "The responsibility lies with me" is bad enough, especially when it involves absolutely no pledge to fix the problem. After all, confession without repentance is useless, right? But my pet peeve is the now ubiquitous hedge, "Mistakes were made."

Man up, dammit! If you made a mistake,, say "I made a mistake", or even better, "I fucked up -- big time". If someone else made a mistake, name names! But let's stop this "Mistakes were made", as if a bunch of mistakes participated in a Mob initiation rite.

Mistakes don't make themselves. People make them. And if they're smart, they learn from them. But this bunch isn't at all sorry for any of the things they've done. They aren't sorry for the botched war, the horrific treatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed, the unjustified and illegal spying on Americans, the compilation of vast databases of Americans' activities, the huge amounts of debt it's amassed. The Bush Administration isn't sorry for a thing they've done, but they are very, very sorry they got caught.

It's time we confronted Administration officials, and indeed everyone in Washington, including Democrats. When they make a mistake, when they do something wrong, let's force them to own up to it. It's just a few words: I. Made. A. Mistake. Or perhaps even better, I. Did. Wrong.

It shouldn't be that difficult. And anyone for whom it is too difficult ought to be fired.

Alberto Gonzales is the latest:

Under criticism from lawmakers of both parties for the dismissals of federal prosecutors, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales insisted Tuesday that he would not resign but said, “I acknowledge that mistakes were made here.”

The mea culpa came as Congressional Democrats, who are investigating whether the White House was meddling in Justice Department affairs for political reasons, demanded that President Bush and his chief political adviser, Karl Rove, explain their roles in the dismissals.


=Ahem.= Saying "Mistakes were made" is hardly a "mea culpa". Gonzales shouldn't be let off the hook so lightly. Let Chuck Schumer hold Gonzales' feet to the fire and make him use the first person pronoun and the active voice. And if he won't, then he should be gone -- quickly.

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