re: #29 Quoth the raven, Covfefe.

Here’s what I think: I think he originally thought he had WaPo in a “gotcha”, akin to his epic “takedown” of ACORN. When WaPo revealed that they were on to him and completely blew his fake story apart, he panicked and ran with the next best thing he had, regardless of if he was truly convinced it was damning or not, in the hope of doing enough damage control not to lose face amongst the wingnuts.

I suspect that it’s something closer to the middle: What we’re seeing is the “sizzle” that was supposed to sell the “steak” (aka the Phillips “sting”). Use these videos to show that the WaPo has a “hidden agenda,” then cap it off with a WaPo reporter being caught on tape giving assurances that they’d go to press with unverified accusations. He probably was counting on the WaPo sticking to the policy of not publishing “off-the-record” info to sell his hackjob once he got Phillip’s footage and realized she’d been found out. But WaPo did go to press with it, so now he has to go forward with the “sting” but without any substance to it.

Sad reality? There’s plenty of wingnuts out there who will buy it.