Atlanta-headquartered CNN has taken an unexpected role in the upcoming Georgia runoff, which is that of fact-checker ... on Democrat Jon Ossoff.

According to Jeff Charles at RedState:

CNN actually fact-checked a lie told by a Democratic candidate running in one of the most critical races in this election season. Yes, I know we’re all experiencing a bit of cognitive dissonance at the moment, but let’s take a look.

Ossoff spoke with Fox News reporter Peter [D]oocy on Wednesday evening about the upcoming election. During the exchange, Doocy asked if Ossoff had “any concern that the allegations of wrongdoing by Rev. Warnock could possibly be a drag on the Democratic ticket.”

Ossoff responded, stating deceptively that Sen. Kelly Loeffler campaigned with a member of the Ku Klux Klan. “[H]ere’s the bottom line, Kelly Loeffler has been campaigning with a klansman,” Ossoff lied. “Kelly Loeffler has been campaigning with a klansman,” he repeated, “and so she is stooping to these vicious personal attacks to distract from the fact that she’s been campaigning with a former member of the Ku Klux Klan.”

He later tweeted the footage on his Twitter account, repeating the lie. The video has gone viral.

With an election this close and this pivotal, and everyone knowing which side CNN is on, it's natural to wonder what's going on.

Offhand, five theories can be put forward:

First, the ever-shriveling network knows it's shot its credibility wad with listeners as the Democrats' jellyfish ally, everyone knowing that they manipulate the news for leftists. That may be the result of recent undercover footage by James O'Keefe showing them slanting the news, and packaging it according to the left's "narrative." Could be a move to regain respectability, which for them is a long climb up.

Second, they may believe that criticizing Ossoff does him no harm, so pound away, they'll flick away a few critics of their lapdog news coverage just by calling an obvious whopper out. Maybe they know a fix is in, and like Joe Biden, aren't trying too hard.

Third, they may know enough about the viewing public at this late date to recognize that extremely dishonest coverage backfires. They know the public is not stupid and if they sense a smeary put-up job, claiming that Loeffler is campaigning with a Klansman, the voters will only be more motivated to vote for Loeffler and against the Democrats. Maybe that.

Fourth, maybe it was a rogue operation, someone wanted to stick it to someone else, maybe a boss, and someone is going to get fired.

Fifth, maybe they dislike Ossoff and like the rest of us, consider him a clown. A look at Ossoff's threats and promises and history with CNN might reveal something afoot.

Whatever it is, it got our attention. Something strange is going on at CNN.

Image credit: Anupamtree / Anupam Chakravarty, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0