It's instinct with them. Catch them stealing, and they will yell "Thief, thief!!" pointing at you. They figure by the time the crowd arrives, your claims that they just stole something will seem like defensive whining and that most of the crowd will just shrug their shoulders in confusion and wander off, muttering something about those damn politicians.
If the NYTimes is about to go big with this, it must mean that there is something requiring a big smoke bomb, to cover up.
That's one of Bush's more successful instincts. Spit on him, and he speaks honorably of you. The lefts usual way of starting a fight to cover something up doesn't work so well with Bush, because he seems never to react with outrage to what other politicians do to him.
Pukin'Dog says the 'Rats always go for the cheese as soon as they think they see it, even after they've seen all their friends get their heads crushed in the trap. They can't help it. It's what Rats do!