From a British reader in the States (edited for piety):

The fact is that Thompson’s statement illustrates why a lot of people, such as myself, have been going off his candidature since even before he officially announced it. He’s a big old fake, a [bs-er] and a populist not afraid to make [stuff] up to feed to desperate conservatives who (myself included) feel that they don’t have a dog in the race. I’m sticking with McCain, who at least has a…spine, and I’d take Ron Paul as a second (although I’m not sure that I actually want Paul to *win*; I posted on my own blog a while back about preferring him to make a good showing to strengthen what’s left of the small-government conservatives in the GOP)….Of course, I should disclose that I am British (living in the US) and, thus, have the luxury of sitting back safe in the knowledge that I cannot vote (even for the local council of my town, although they appear to enjoy my school taxes well enough).

I’m not going to battle Steyn over the statement any more — I feel that in a war of words between the two of us, I’m bringing a knife to a gunfight (something to do with my ethnic background). But I can think of greater Fred transgressions than this statement.

What gets me upset, and what led me to start this whole thing, is that the Washington Post can refer to a debatable proposition like this one as “jingoistic” (it is not) and imply that it’s a lie, yet let the Democrats get away with saying they don’t want to raise taxes, they just want to roll back tax cuts. That’s just a bald-faced lie, why don’t they win the “Pinocchio” award for that?