"Local" colloquialisms are no excuse for hidng an agenda, IMHO. And in this case of a person on FR(TLBSHOW) and an always paranoid source(Sierra Times) using a rumor trumped up by an adversary of conservatives, The New York Times, to further their own agenda has been exposed.
Like I said before I will trust Bush, Cheney, and Ashcroft.
You can trust anyone you want, and in this case you and TLB want to trust the New York Times. I will advise you though, IMO, that the New York Times is 99.9% of the time is wrong, but you will have to find that out for yourself.