Fox News blatantly conflated the anti-union legislation just rammed through the Michigan legislature - and now facing massive protests - with the case of 13 Detroit autoworkers who were just reinstated after being caught drinking and getting high on the job. Without bothering to do any research into why an arbitrator found the workers should be reinstated, Fox & Friends this morning suggested that unionized auto workers are a bunch of boozers and stoners with cushy contracts that prevent them from getting fired no matter what.

After discussing President Obama’s objections to the right-to-work legislation, Steve Doocy brought up the reinstated workers. You may recall that the story of the autoworkers was originally broken by local Fox reporters following them to a park during their break. Fox just happened to develop an interest in the workers’ behavior not long after the auto bailout.

Guest host Eric Bolling started the demonizing. “Probably any other job on the planet, if you were caught in the parking lot drinking… or smoking pot… you’d be fired in the afternoon. …Forget buying the car, how’d you like to be driving your kids to school in the car that was built that afternoon after those guys were smoking pot and drinking the beer? …That’s why it’s so bad. Because it’s so hard to fire these people.”

Guest Laura Ingraham agreed. “Next time, like something falls off your Chrysler, like your steering wheel cover kind of slips off? Well, now we know why.” She started laughing.

Doocy chimed in, “It was made after lunch.”

Ingraham continued, “Stuff… knobs always fall off because, oh man, ‘Let’s get another nickel bag before I go back to work.’ It’s ridiculous.”

Gretchen Carlson said, “It speaks to the power of the union. You know, it really does. And whatever they had in the language of the contract, the arbitrator sided with them. So they must have this sort of iron-clad language.”

Apparently, that “iron-clad language” is that sufficient and conclusive evidence is needed before a worker can be fired. But Carlson made it sound as though enforcing a contract that protects workers is a bad thing.

There was also the unmistakeable suggestion that only union workers get high on the job and avoid getting fired. As though the two go hand in hand and the union is to blame for the entire thing.

Ingraham added, “Maybe Chrysler will rue the day" that they were "so lax and tolerant of, you know, union power.”