No, a Democrat operative made the whole thing up, then contacted a Republican on this site to plant the BS. When the Republican said something along the lines of 'I heard a rumor like that', the Democrat took the planted story with entrapped response to the Washington Whore Post and said "Look, the Republicans are planting rumors about O'Malley". Republicans took the hit, but now the truth is coming out.
I doubt you'll see this explained in the Washington Post.
Take this paragraph, and Insert Libby as the republican and you have what I think is a pretty striking similarity to the Plame set up done by reporters.