A grammar lesson

Maybe I should just stop reading leftish webzines late at night, but I came across this little gem:

Richardson also misplayed the candor card. Seven times in the broadcast, he used phrases like "I made a mistake" or "I shouldn't have said that." After six years of an error-ridden Bush administration in which it has taken eons for the president to offer even limited mumbles about any errors, we should applaud candidates who admit mistakes. We should also encourage them to tell us what they've learned from their wrong turns. But there is surely a limit to the number of mistakes you can admit to before it starts to hurt your authority, and Richardson seemed to zip by it.

And I feel I have to parse it, using parsing skills I learned at the EIB Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies. First, in the context given, "we should applaud candidates who admit mistakes" means "we should demand that candidates constantly apologize and grovel for forgiveness." Notice the subtle turn of phrase. "We should also encourage them to tell us what they've learned from their wrong turns" means "they must dance like marionettes on our strings for our amusement as we treat them like first-graders." And finally, "there is surely a limit to the number of mistakes you can admit to before it starts to hurt your authority, and Richardson seemed to zip by it" means "that stuff we said about apologizing, grovelling, and being treated like first-graders - that was meant for Republicans only. Look to Bill Clinton, Richardson, and he will show you the way. Don't ever admit that you were wrong!"

SRS