The crap surrounding the Attorney General and the seemingly political firings at the Justice Department just got a little more interesting. You can read the article at the New York Times, and it’s a good article, but there’s something quite subtle in there. Here’s the opening paragraph.

WASHINGTON, March 13 — 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 emphasis is mine. Do you see what Gonzales did there? The apparent admission was in the passive voice, shifting blame for the mistakes to an unnamed third party, shielding himself from incrimination. For comparison, here’s a quote from President Reagan’s 1987 State of the Union, addressing the Iran-Contra affair.

The goals were worthy. I do not believe it was wrong to try to establish contacts with a country of strategic importance or to try to save lives. And certainly it was not wrong to try to secure freedom for our citizens held in barbaric captivity. But we did not achieve what we wished, and serious mistakes were made in trying to do so.

In both cases, by whom were the mistakes made?

It’s an interesting trick of grammar. In both cases, use of the passive voice masks whomever it was who actually made the mistakes. The subject becomes the mistake in question and not those responsible, despite the appearance of an admission of guilt. Unobservant critics see an admission and are satisfied, though the official in question can semantically and maybe even legally argue that no such admission was ever made. It’s a clever use of language that can easily go undetected.

Accepting guilt without admitting it. That has to be healthy for a democratic government, right?