Michael Fumento

The media are still resisting admitting that James Sikes's Wild Ride was just another Balloon Boy Hoax, in which they played a vital role. Thus the Washington Post today states, "Sikes said he tried to free his gas pedal with his hand but did not say whether he put the car in neutral."Up, up and away!

Actually at his press conference the next day he said about five times he did not. That is available on the Web and I link to it in my Forbes.com article in which I exposed the hoax.

I also reported CNN asked why he didn't put the car into neutral and he said, "I was afraid to try to [reach] over there and put it in neutral. I was holding onto the steering wheel with both hands - 94 miles an hour in a Toyota Prius is fast."

Yet for much of the ride he had a phone in one hand!

He also claims to have reached way under the dash to try to pull up the accelerator. And the kicker is that the 2008 Prius is mounted on the dash so that you don't have to take your hands off the steering wheel to shift as this image shows.

This alone shows Sikes to be a complete liar, yet the Post negates all these questions with its sloppy reporting.

The Post also says that a Toyota representative said "that Sikes was told by the 911 operator to put his Prius into neutral and turn off the ignition."

Either the operator did or she didn't. Why is this attributed to Toyota? Again, you can find that 911 call all over the Web and a link to it in my piece. You hear this poor lady BEGGING Sikes to turn off the ignition or put the car into neutral. He refused. It's a fact, not a "Toyota claims."

We need reporters to admit "We wuz wrong. This was another Balloon Boy Hoax and we blew it!" Then we need them to call off the witch hunt.

(Image courtesy of Jaime Arbona.)