Neil Cavuto had Ron Blackwell, AFL-CIO Chief Economist, on to discuss unemployment and job creation. By the end of the interview Cavuto had demonstrated exactly why Democrats and progressives and, apparently, union officials, should never go on Fox News. At the same time Blackwell demonstrated that he is a shrewd judge of character.
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The discussion turned into a rather ludicrous debate because Cavuto couldn't understand a simple accounting principle. Cavuto kept haranguing Blackwell about the number of jobs created by the stimulus program. Blackwell clearly stated that there was a net loss of jobs, but that it would have been far worse without the stimulus. Cavuto couldn't get it. So Blackwell very plainly told Cavuto that the stimulus had created jobs, but that more jobs were lost due to the recession than were created by the stimulus. But Cavuto kept trying to argue that because there was not a net increase in jobs that no jobs were created at all.
After repeated interruptions by Cavuto, and requests by Blackwell that he be permitted to finish a thought, Cavuto lashed out with a gratuitous insult at Blackwell. And this prompted a crude but deserved retort:
Cavuto: You're the chief economist there. Where did you get your degree? I mean...at a baking school? Where are you cooking up these numbers?
Blackwell: [Correction] I tell you that's all. That's an insult. Forget about it. You're a joker. You're an asshole.
Cavuto: So your answer to just answering a simple question is to curse at me?
Watch the video:
That was no simple question, Neil. That was a petulant insult. What does Cavuto expect? Especially when it was his own inability to grasp the issue that resulted in his juvenile conduct. For him to get so sensitive about being called a name just seconds after he disparaged his guest is another demonstration of childishness. And this isn't a recent behavioral flaw. I wrote about Cavuto's proclivity for interruptions a year ago:
Cavuto's method of getting answers is to provide them himself. His guests become superfluous as he obviously prefers his own answers to the ones a guest might offer. His contention that he is merely attempting to short circuit a stump speech is plainly false. He doesn't even give his guest enough time to discern whether or not the answer is substantive. By the time the guest has uttered, "Well Neil, the reason for that is..." Cavuto has already cut him off. His interruptions never compel a guest to be more responsive or clear. In fact, he interrupts almost exclusively to argue with the guest. That's not seeking clarity, it's browbeating.
Rest assured that Cavuto and his Fox News colleagues will harp on this for days and cast Blackwell as the villain. They will play this clip repeatedly, except they will leave out Cavuto's insult and just show Blackwell calling him an asshole. And that's why Blackwell would have been better off to stay home. He was never going to change Cavuto's mind on anything, nor the minds of any Fox viewers.
There is simply no upside to engaging with Fox. After all these years, with so many examples, why are there still people who don't get that? Pay attention. This is not the exception. This is the norm. And this is why people need to...
...STAY THE HELL OFF OF FOX NEWS!