The reporter who wrote the article in the New York Sun sent me a copy, and we exchanged several emails. The impression I got was that he simply interpreted things the way he did based upon his own past experiences. I don't think he deliberately tried to mislead anyone. He just made wrong assumptions and reported his assumptions as speculation.
Dang! Missed it again. I should have mentioned how easy it is to do that when you begin with a belief and then rationalize everything to fit that belief.