'Mistakes were made'

For the life of me I cannot understand why politicians and bureaucrats continue to use that phrase, but here it is again, fresh out of the mouth of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Bloggers are prognosticating ('Blognosticating'(tm)) that Gonzales's resignation is coming soon. Maybe, but remember how long Donald Rumsfeld lasted?

Gonzales, in typical Bush administration fashion, stepped in front of the cameras and microphones at a press conference today to make the standard third person announcement, and promptly accepted responsibility for the mistakes, but said that he would not resign. Basically: 'I accept responsibility for mistakes that some unknown person or persons have made, as long as that acknowledgment is the only consequence of said responsibility.'

Update: I see Matthew Yglesias had a similar reaction.