mistakes were made

from this morning's nytimes:

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."

i mean that pretty much sums up the past seven years, doesn't it? of course it took six years for these guys to even admit mistakes, but notice how this statement operates: "i acknowledge" -- i am the one who has authority to speak on the matter; "that mistakes were made" -- the passive voice enables the mistake-makers to remain unidentified and unacknowledged, and thus responsibility for those mistakes remains untaken; "here" -- as if this were simply a local, isolated case of complete failure, corruption and lies on this administration's part. in short, gonzales here acknowledges nothing; what he offers is an acknowledgement that acknowledges nothing, an admission of no blame, no accountability and no responsibility.

for anything. these guys have not done a single thing right in seven years, and their hubris remains unmitigated in the face of persistant and catastrophic failure. they are killing this country. here's an excellent three-year-old backgrounder by eric lind for the nation.