ABSTRACT
"Mistakes were made", President Clinton said about his colorful fund-raising tactics. The same phrase was used by Ronald Reagan and George Bush on Iran-Contra and John Sununu on his government-paid private travel. No-fault syntax is crucially important when issuing vague, no-apology regrets. It is best to stick to the passive voice and avoid the risk of mentioning any living or dead person who might come in for some blame. The high number of young black men in jail is a tragedy, but the sad fact is traditionally softened and attributed to society or the system by heavy use of passive verbs: the men have been "criminalized" or "ensnared". This linguistic ploy is used at both ends of the political spectrum. In an age of language wars, political victory often flows from victory in the battles over terminology. The dominant problems were mental illness and addiction, but the language used kept pointing policy in another direction.
