Matt Cutts is a PR guy and an authority. Google knows that what he says and how he says things make waves and since Google can't stop everyone and everything they can introduce the shadow of a doubt to paranoid black hatters to keep them on the fence.
It's a cunning mix, but bhw and the vets on the boards make it work no matter what Cutts says. Matt says a lot of things, yet we're still here doing what we don't aren't we?
Sidenote: People still use AOL dial up, anything is possible.