Trucker D.C. Beltway Shutdown Plan a Hoax

Attempt to get attention about shutdown (as though nobody had noticed)

It can be hard to get attention for your agenda in a town like Washington, but Georgia trucker Earl Conlon figured out a way: Take the Beltway hostage.

Conlon's comments in a U.S. News & World Report story that he and thousands of truckers from across the country (and possibly Canada) planned to come to D.C. on Friday and bring traffic to a standstill on the inner loop of the Capital Beltway zinged across the Web, picked up by outlets ranging from Fox News to the Huffington Post. The rally was dubbed "Truckers for the Constitution."

But alas, it is all a hoax.

"The comments to U.S. News were designed to do one thing and one thing only: stir the feather of the mainstream media," said Conlon, a father of three. "Nothing gets the attention of the mainstream media like some sort of disastrous threat. I knew it was going to ruffle some feathers."