Since even Thomas Lipscomb has backed away from his assertion that he was "nominated" for a Pulitzer Prize, you would think that the wingers who backed him originally would feel chastened, or at least somewhat reticent about returning to the issue. But, lo and behold, there are some who continue to justify the original mendacity, by arguing that, well, everyone lies about being nominated for the Pulitzer. Tom Maguire brings up a USA Today journalist who claims three prior nominations, while Mark Hyman of Sinclair Broadcasting fame opines

Pulitzer receives 1400-1500 nominations in fourteen journalism categories each year. The organization lists on its website 2-3 names for each category of which one is designated the "winner" and the others are called "nominated finalists." Tom Lipscomb was nominated in the 2005 "Investigative Reporting" category by the New York Sun for his work exposing fabrications by John Kerry during the 2004 campaign. Lipscomb didn't finish among the top three. The Pulitzer staff told The Point they prefer the term "entrant" rather than "nominee" for anyone not selected among the top three. But they acknowledge it is common practice for newspapers to refer to everyone entered as having been nominated.

The last sentence is particularly disingenous, since what is "common practice" is for journalists who worked on articles for which the newspaper received a nomination (such as the USA Today reporter referenced by Maguire) to claim that they were "nominated". Technically, that isn't a true nomination either, but it's a far sight more factual than claiming that the thousands who send in entry forms are "Pulitzer nominees". As Ted Remington notes, by that standard Lipscomb could claim with equal validity to have been nominated to be Miss Universe.