The "past exonerative" tense is a witticism coined by William Schneider of the New York Times to describe the rhetorical tactic of speaking in the passive voice in order to distance oneself from blame.
Creed Bratton (William Charles Schneider, born 1943), American actor
•
William Schneider, Jr. (born 1941), chairman of the Defense Science Board
•
Buzz Schneider (born 1954), American ice hockey player, 1980 Olympic gold medalist
In that same year he served on the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States, which came to the conclusion that Iraq could develop a ballistic missile capable of striking the US in ten years.
William Shakespeare | William Laud | William Blake | William | William III of England | William Morris | William McKinley | William Howard Taft | William Ewart Gladstone | William the Conqueror | William S. Burroughs | William Shatner | William Faulkner | William Randolph Hearst | William Wordsworth | William Tecumseh Sherman | William Hogarth | Prince William, Duke of Cambridge | William Penn | William Jennings Bryan | William Gibson | William Wilberforce | William James | William Makepeace Thackeray | Fort William | William Hanna | William Hague | William III | William Hurt | William Walton |
The commission also asked Maine Attorney General William Schneider to open a criminal investigation and impose a large fine for the violations which Commission chair Walter McKee called "mind-boggling".