Reply #34: I'm glad someone bothered to notice this... [View All]

[RoyGBiv]

Ted is a master of oration and rhetoric. He chooses his words purposefully.

I'm just speculating here, but I wonder if there's not something rather intentional in the phrasing. I remember well Reagan's use of passive voice and how his critics, Kennedy among them, made note of it. "Mistakes were made..." Yes, they were, and by phrasing the comment that way, Reagan neither placed nor accepted blame.

And Kennedy did a similar thing. He was simply stating a truism without offering any suggestions about who would be doing the honoring or whether it was right to do so. It's a very diplomatic way to make a point, imo.