Here are a few phrases that waterboarding would not pry from our lips. Firing squads would fail to get various leaders to utter them.

One is “I’m sorry. I was wrong.”  Another is “I made big mistakes.” And similar phrases.

We have seen examples of this resistance lately.  And we can find countless examples in history.

Recently we have Hillary blaming everybody and every thing in sight for her loss. The Russians. The folks who hate women. The Russians. FBI Director Comey. The Russians. She blames all of them and more. Along with the Russians. She said “I take full responsibility,” and then blamed everybody else.

She cannot come around to blame herself. And her staff.  And herself. For hiring and trusting the staff.

She goofed. She should not have created the ragamuffin email system to hide her emails. She should not have lied about it. She should not have had a trusted aide like Huma. Huma sent reams of Hillary’s emails to her pervert hubby Anthony Weiner to store and print. Duhhh. She should not have allowed her own hubby to meet with Attorney General Lynch. At a crucial moment in the FBI’s investigation of her. Or she should have apologized for his stupid behavior.

Pollsters tell us a huge chunk of voters disliked both candidates. Two months before the election most would have voted for her. By the election most had swung to Trump. They disliked him. But not as much as they disliked her. Big reason for the dislike of her? They felt they could not trust her.

Set that aside. She and her staff also goofed on strategies. In states she probably could have won. She and her staff should have planned to win. Instead they planned to coast to her coronation.

Clearly she goofed in many ways. Clearly, she cannot admit so in public.  And perhaps in private. Which is human nature writ large.

What happened when United Airlines goofed big time? Dragged a passenger from his seat. Broke his nose. Did the CEO immediately say “We really screwed up.”  Nah.  After millions of people condemned United he finally came out with “Mistakes were made.” And carefully-worded PR blather like that.

Nixon goofed in Watergate. He could have put the matter to rest. By early on saying “I goofed. We goofed. We were stupid. I apologize.”  That is all he needed to do. But such words would never come from him.

Bill Clinton could have avoided impeachment. All he had to do is say “I screwed up. Did some stupid things with an intern. I apologize to Hillary and all Americans.”  He would have skated. Instead he lied. Misled. Blathered. On TV. While Hillary blamed A Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

Suppose he had said “I lied”.  And she had said “I whacked him with a lamp. We are back on track. Let’s move on.” I bet the issue would have gone away.

We are as guilty as them. I know, you are a saint. But the rest of us are guilty. If we are honest we can think of many times when we could have said “I am sorry.” “I made a mistake.” “I was wrong.” But we did not. And suffered the consequences. Of broken friendships. Of lost promotions. And more.

I know a couple that has been separated for two years. He wants to resume. She does too.  But refuses. Why?  Because he mis-treated their son-in-law.  Insulted him.

She insists her hubby apologize to the son-in-law. He won’t. End of story. End of marriage.  Bring on the waterboarding. The firing squad. Force him to listen to 50 political speeches. Remind him that he can resume the marriage. Which he desperately wants. He only has to say he goofed and he is sorry. Nope.

Nixon desperately wanted to keep the presidency. He only had to say he goofed and he was sorry. Nope.

Hillary desperately wanted the presidency. She might well have won it. If on various occasions she had said “I lied. Sorry. Had what I thought were good reasons. But I lied.” And “My email decision was just plain stupid. And wrong. And I misled you about it. Sorry.”

If you like quotes from famous people here are two. “Never apologize. It’s a sign of weakness.”  And “Apologizing just means you value your relationship more than your ego.”

Which do you prefer?

Wait.  Just found two more: “Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure.”

The best: “The best computer. When it makes a mistake it blames another computer.”

       From Tom…as in Morgan.           

       Find Tom on Facebook. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com.