Not thinking too clearly

Here's a humorous story from Wired News. A conservative group put up an internet poll meant just for their members to present to Congress as an objective poll (which it would never be). Word of the poll got around to the rest of the internet and the results ended up just as lopsided as originally envisioned, but favoring the opposing view. What were they thinking? Why didn't they just make up the statistics in the first place? It would've been just as reliable and would've guaranteed the results they desired.