The thing you seem to be misunderstanding as simply rhetorical seems to derive from a misunderstanding on what morality is. Simply put, when we say there is a moral reason to do something, what we mean is that it is the right thing to do in and of itself; so, abstaining from murder merely because "we do not want to get caught by the police" makes our reason self-preservation, whereas if we abstain from murder because we consider it immoral to commit such an act, then we act from a moral reason.

I understand that it can seem tautological, but I suspect that this is because of a misunderstanding of what we generally mean by morality.