NYC-union 'snowjob' hoax a salvo in conservative class war

On Friday I heard a Wall Street guy from NYC cite the now debunked union-"silent strike" story as fact for all us non-New Yorkers in the room.

Man, lying really works well!

As Alterman points out, if enough Americans believe that public employees are all lazy, cheating slobs, then it won't be hard for conservative politicians to cut their wages, and do things like allow states to declare bankruptcy in order to cancel their pension obligations to public employees.

The Conservative Class War, Continued

By Eric Alterman

February 3, 2011 | The Nation

URL: http://www.truth-out.org/the-conservative-class-war-continued67498

Um, yeah, about that union-snowplow thing I said, well, um....

Well, well, well. Looks like the teabagging NYC City Councilman who said five city workers came to him and revealed a union-orchestrated plot to stop plowing the snow made it all up.

Two of his alleged "snitches" deny it; and he refuses to name the other three, invoking bogus attorney-client privilege.

In other words, this evil nutjob made the whole thing up. The truth has finally put on its shoes, but his lie has already run around the world, and will probably remain lodged in many people's reptilian brains as indelible "fact."

Evidence Is Elusive on Charge of a Blizzard Slowdown

By Russ Buettner and William K. Rashbaum

January 25, 2011 | New York Times

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/nyregion/26snowman.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all