"I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility. I stand by the decision, and I think it was a right decision."Alberto Gonzales
Attorney General
I’ve read this in a variety of places. Some people point to his use of the passive voice – mistakes were made – pointing to leaving out who made the mistakes. But I find myself wondering what he is talking about. What mistakes were made?
mis·take (mÄ-stÄk’)
n.
- An error or fault resulting from defective judgment, deficient knowledge, or carelessness.
- A misconception or misunderstanding.
Gonzales says that "mistakes were made," then he accepts "responsibility," then he says it was the "right decision." That’s crazy talk.
- Harriet Miers and Kyle Samson worked on this little piece of partisanship for nine months. They knew exactly what they were doing. They planned for every contingency. There was no "carelessness" in what they did. They did exactly what they wanted to do.
- What does Gonzales take responsibility for? It happened on his watch, maybe. But if he is to be believed, he wasn’t involved in doing it and says he didn’t even know it was happening.
- And anyway, "it was the right decision" negates the "mistakes" comment and makes the "responsibility" comment absurd. And, by the way, why was it the right decision?
There was no mistake. They did exactly what they wanted to do. Gonzales wasn’t responsible – as in a responsible person. It was Harriet Miers and Kyle Samson who brought it off. And it was only "the right decision" if the function of the Attorney General’s Office is to purge the voter lists of Democratic voters – which it apparently is.
So, actually, it was not a mistake; Gonzales was irresponsible; and it was a wrong decision. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
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