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.
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: 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!
Yeah, the sad part is Blackwell has it absolutely right. Cavuto is indeed an asshole but, as he demonstrated, the “cursing” will become his escape clause. “He cussed at me, he’s the bad guy.”
As he demonstrated, Cavuto has no concept of simple economics, and is relying on people’s hysteria to keep his ratings high. He doesn’t care about people’s jobs and was content to continue name calling and insulting until Blackwell put it squarely back in his court by asking him what exactly he thought should be done about getting people jobs.
This Fox/Gopper meme of “let’s stop blaming Bush” is another indication of their inability to either grasp the scope of the problems he left our country with or to stop living in denial. You simply cannot fix what others spent 8 years fucking up in a couple of years. The fact that we are still confronted with compound problems (lack of oversight of the financial sector, followed by lack of oversight of big-oil and all made worse by years of bungled or corrupt foreign policy, for instance) that were put on us by the years of inept, dishonest, greedy and probably illegal policies of the Bush/Chaney years is not something that is being used as a progressive talking point, it is a simple fact of life. It is going to take a lot more than a couple of years, even if we had a president that was actually living up to his promise and hype, to fix the mess that Bush and Chaney left this country in, particularly with all the continued help they get prolonging those problems from the Goppers and Fox News.
Fox News and the GOP don’t want any solutions. If things actually get better then Dems will get reelected. That’s why they have been obstructing EVERYTHING.
Mark: You certainly exude confidence in Obama when you write, “IF things actually get better…” I thought you agreed with Mr. Blackwell that things have gotten better, to the tune of millions and millions of jobs.
I guess you haven’t learned to lie to yourself, yet. Drink the Kool-aid my man, drink the Kool-aid!
Do I really need to explain to you that the conditional clause “if” references the perspective of the GOP who openly oppose any remedy?
It is “Cheney” not “Chaney”. Chaney played the wolfman in the movie of the same name…probably the same guy in your nightmares.
Obama should be glad he doesn’t have to fix everything that Carter spent 4 years “fucking up”. Actually, Obama is still faced with some of Carter’s fuck-ups, like enabling a theocracy in Iran and the collapse of Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion. Wow, I hadn’t thought about it for a long time, but Carter was a real fuck-up. I bet Obama makes Carter look like a real statesman.
Unsurprisingly, a simple typo is the meat of your argument.
Unsurprisingly, you need to create “my nightmares”, something I don’t have, to further your argument.
Unsurprisingly, you attempt to deflect from the point — that the current attempts by the right wing media to declare that after 18 months of a new administration nothing is Bush’s fault anymore is simplistic nonsense — rather than address that point.
The things Carter fucked up are still his fault, although unsurprisingly you put forth a simplistic and revisionist version of events. The things Bush and Cheney fucked up are still, and will always be, their fault.
They just keep getting a lot of blame because they fucked up so much stuff.
And yes, the things that Obama will inevitably fuck up during his administration, or has already fucked up, will be his fault. The left accepts this, read FireDogLake for a day or so if you doubt this.
It’s a simple concept, one that, much like “If you want to argue with me, argue based on points I made not points made up by you”, seems to completely elude you.
By the way, you are thinking (in a loose application of the word) of Lon Chaney JR. He played the Wolfman, amongst many other roles. His Father, Lon Chaney, was much better known for his Quasimodo and Phantom portrayals. HTH.
It had to be said! Truth hurts, huh Neil?
Does anyone know where Mr. Blackwell did get his education?
I have been looking everywhere and all I can find is a list of his various jobs and boards. He says he recently won the “Nat Weinberg Award” but I don’t see any evidence of there being any great prestige associated with that claim.
He also seems to have one of the thinnest c.v.s concerning publication.
P.S. I have seen the clip quite a few times and FOX appears to be showing the interview in its entirety, but that is by Cavuto himself. Also, Mr. Blackwell spoke quite profusely, but his answers had nothing to do with the question. All he had to do was spew the usual Keynesian blather. It would not have been true, but it would have been an answer.
You must have been watching a different program. To the extent that Cavuto permitted an answer, Blackwell was directly responsive to the question. The problem is that Cavuto was so frightened of Blackwell’s answers that he didn’t let him finish a single thought.
P.P.S.
I forgot to ask if it is Bush’s fault in Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland, etc.?
Has it been Bush’s fault for more than 10 years in Japan?
Bush was blamed for 9/11 after eight months in office, but Obama is still hiding from responsibility. Will there be any time between Obama’s inauguration and the inauguration of the next President that Obama will be accountable?
Bush was blamed for 9/11 because he was explicitly warned of the risk, but he ignored it. Remember the national security memo titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside the US?” Yet Bush never even convened his anti-terrorism task force – not once.
And the economic problems clearly began in Bush’s term. Do you deny that? If you think that the consequences of the worst economic decline since the Great Depression can be resolved in a year or two, you are woefully uninformed about financial matters.