I've been mulling over the rather bizarre (and amazingly tardy) claim by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka that he "witnessed" the N-word being shouted by Tea Partiers at black congressmen.

I share Dan Riehl's skepticism:

It seems curious to me that he made no such claim in a released statement dated March 25th that specially cites his time on Capitol Hill that day. The only other relevant statement I can find via the AFL-CIO site is this one praising ObamaCare on March 21. It makes no sense that Trumka suddenly remembered what he heard, after failing to mention it during the debate over harsh rhetoric that followed. In my opinion, that he failed to invoke it in the release below on the very same topic casts doubt on his credibility in this regard.

Trumka personally witnessed these events, which somehow a throng of people with video cameras all missed. And he can prove he was there. And it only took him three weeks to speak up about it, when directly asked by a guy who's offering a $100,000 reward for any evidence.

And of course, Trumka has no reason to lie. No reason at all to try to discredit these folks.

What more proof do you need?

Warner Todd Huston is more blunt:

Trumka is simply a liar. That's all there is to it.

This makes a lot of sense if the primary goal is to use any means necessary to stop the Tea Party movement.

JWF linked a HuffPo piece with a title that included these words: "Unions Try To Out-Tea Party The Tea Party." And Trumka (surprise!) is an architect of this strategy:

A host of union groups and community activists are planning to one-up the anti-Wall Street sentiment commonly associated with the Tea Party movement by actually organizing a massive protest on the streets of downtown Manhattan.

The AFL-CIO is set to orchestrate a 10,000-person "march on Wall Street" on April 29, designed to push for several broad and specific actions on the financial regulatory reform front.

The union conglomerate's president, Richard Trumka, in an interview with Politico, described the event as a focal point for populist angst with the financial industry's practices.

"People will be talking, yelling, chanting, and letting America -- and letting Wall Street, particularly -- know that their brand of economics, where the financial economy overshadows the real economy, is no longer acceptable, that we want them to help pay for the jobs that they destroyed," he said.

The other prong involves any-means-necessary tactics -- some of which are taken right out of the COINTELPRO textbook.

There's a group called the "Patriot Majority" which uses this logo:

They appeared out of nowhere, and the group's founder (Democratic activist Craig Varoga) is already being prominently featured as Mr. Anti-Tea Party as in this CBS "Washington Unplugged" debate with Tea Party Patriots organizer Debbie Dooley. At a web page called "The Tea Party Is Over," the group encourages anti-Tea Party activists to "help us put a stop to the dangerous ideas of the Tea Party."

Then there's a newly up and running group called Crash the Tea Party. Here's their strategy:

Sheesh. You'd almost think these people were trying to give J. Edgar Hoover an erection in his grave.

Once again, this is vintage COINTELPRO stuff.

The FBI and police used a myriad of other "dirty tricks" to undermine progressive movements. They planted false media stories and published bogus leaflets and other publications in the name of targeted groups. They forged correspondence, sent anonymous letters, and made anonymous telephone calls. They spread misinformation about meetings and events, set up pseudo movement groups run by government agents, and manipulated or strong-armed parents, employers, landlords, school officials and others to cause trouble for activists.

If anyone thinks this is a grass roots effort, think again. It appears this is a well organized, well-paid attempt. According to NPR, the group "Patriot Majority,

"just reported a $1.65 million haul from AFSCME, in addition to $1.5 million from the union earlier in the month, not to mention even more before October."

Almost reminds me of the way Hoffa used to work with Nixon.

MORE: TigerHawk takes a look at Crash the Tea Party, and poses some interesting speculative questions. (Via Glenn Reynolds.)

Meanwhile it looks like the Freepers have the goods on the guy who owns the site. (He appears to be a Philadelphia school district employee.)