Fine by me, but how is he going to even ask, when his purpose is to thoroughly HIDE the OP in his ED?
Not that it's not there - like Saturday Night Live, he's clearly pleased that Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. But he is loathe to admit it directly, and even more loathe to try to defend his secret preference. He'd rather just use trickery to transmit his "feelings" to the reader for mimicry. And that, FRiend, is worthy of a horse whipping.