Conservative group tries to trap WaPo into reporting a fake story against Roy Moore. WaPo exposed the scam instead.

The same conservative activist, James O'Keefe -- who tried to trap Planned Parenthood staff by secretly filming them and then using a misleadingly edited version for political purposes -- has now tried to scam the Washington Post with a fake story.  Instead, the whole incident backfired on O'Keefe's organization and wound up showing what careful, authentic journalists the Post reporters are.   Instead of getting "caught" printing "fake new," they reported the scam and exposed that instead.

Here's what happened.   Someone working for Project Veritas, which O'Keefe heads, contacted the Post reporters who had just broken the story of Roy Moore's accusers.  She was trying to get them to run her claim that she had a sexual affair with Roy Moore and got pregnant when she was 15 -- and that he helped her get an abortion.

Being thorough journalists, doing background-checking and fact-checking, and paying attention to their own suspicions about this woman and the inconsistencies in her story, they did not believe her story.

Part of their checking included following her and seeing her enter the offices of Project Veritas.   The journalists also found evidence that she was applying for a job that sounds just like what O'Keefe and his group do.

So, in the end, the Washington Post did not run her fake, sensational story about Roy Moore, thus foiling their plan to then expose the Post as a purveyor of fake news to smear Moore.  Instead, they published the story about this attempted sting operation to by a right-wing group to embarrass and defame the newspaper that upheld the highest journalistic and ethical standards in publishing the real story.

Who was behind this, and whether Roy Moore knew about it, has not yet been revealed.   When it does come out, I hope the Washington Post gets the scoop.  It has been reported that Donald Trump donated $10,000 to Project Veritas a while back and that some Moore supporters are somehow connected.   But I have no verified details.

One conspiracy theory widely believed among Moore supporters is that George Soros is behind it, paying these women to accuse Moore.  For years, the right-wing and its outlets (talk radio, Alex Jones, Fox News, Breitbart) have been drilling into listeners the idea that the mainstream media (with the New York Times and Washington Post as ringleaders) are totally evil purveyors of fake news.

That has become so deeply ingrained that, for some, just mention the name and they are convinced that whatever comes next is fake.  No amount of proof is going to change their minds.   The very attacks on Moore make him a martyr and a hero to them for standing up to the fake media.

Polling is sparse and not very reliable;  but the Real Clear Politics poll aggregator shows Moore has reversed his slide and is now back in the lead by 6% in the latest Emerson poll.  What we don't know is how many will choose not to vote or will write in another name.   Stay tuned.   It could go either way.

Ralph