The tactic is very simple.  It’s all about false premises and strawmen, express or implied.

Broiler,

The stock market is, and has always been, a suckers game.  The people who consistently make money in the stock market are insiders and stockbrokers.  Where do you think the Kennedy fortune came from.  Of course, back then, before the stock market crash of ‘29, before the Securities and Exchange Acts of 1933 and 1934, insider trading was legal.  Joe Kennedy himself said that he couldn’t believe anything this easy was legal.  Guess what, it’s still pretty easy, if you’re willing to be a crook.

What the GOP has is a game plan that they are all in on—Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove are brilliant at it. And so too do the Right Wing Media—they all have a consistent attack plan. Frank v.s Cavuto (and Clinton vs. that other Fox nut whose name I can’t think of right now) are rare examples where the interviewee reatined their cool and called them on their tactic.

The Right Wing Media generally try to lull people in at first and then put people on the spot (oooooooo, how they play “hardball” they say!).

Putting people on the spot—through interruptions, re-asking the same but differently worded questions, etc.—get them off balance. Fox does this all the time.

CNN’s Crossfire was canned right after John Stewart exposed it for what it was. So, people can cause change.

What the Dems fail to do is to get together and work from a play book of their own. They fail to make a group effort to fight back.

That is kind of how Dems are though, isn’t it? They want to be nice, to have civil discourse, to evaluate and to understand, etc. Dems are not ideologues fighting for the one true soul of America. And this is why they generaly lose against the vile Right Wing.

They only reason why the Democrats won so many elections that the did is that the GOP’s policies are very bad for the majority of the WORLD. GOP policies help make the rich richer and everyone else stagnant or poorer.

The Democrats need to make a concerted effort to learn the Right Wing TV and Radio “hosts” and how they operate, and then need to come up with ways to fight back. But the Democrats generally do not play the media this way. The GOP does though.

I totally agree with Southern Yankee’s comment. Simply boycott Fox news. Why bother? It makes no sense. There are plenty of other media outlets available and if democrats and progressives ignore Fox news then this will send a clear message to ALL of mainstream media. Be fair or be forgotten.

Barney is a good leader, I have great respecT for him.  Further, he is a fighter for the middle class unlike the Republican murderers.  Hats off to Barney!!! I’ll be watching, as always for the “show me” .
Thanks Barney
Mother of Logic

I think the Democrats should boycott Fox News all together.  They never give them a chance to answer questions before they cut the guest off. Yep I would cut them off at the knee caps. That has been the second time Franks has been on Fox news that he has been cut off before he could anwer a question.  Franks was right to get back at him.  You go Barney.

Is Neil Cavuto on speed or crack or what? He just can’t shut up!

Don’t run from Faux “news”, go on and challenge or point out EVERY interruption, every false allegation, EVERY agenda driven tone. Cavuto obviously had orders to go after Barney, and any liberal they want to attack.

Sometimes the obvious needs to be pointed out, that they interrupt, slander, and have an agenda driven propaganda show.

John Kerry, after being Swift boated, should have gone on FAUX “news” and challenged them, my god he’s been in REAL combat, these big mouth interrupting COWARDS are nothing.

Cavuto and all the rest of the Faux News crowd, including their spokesman at the White House, Tony Snow(job), are galactic sphincters.

“Frank steadfastly defends his position on exorbitant CEO pay against an avalanche of nasal smugness.”

Nasal smugness! What a great definition of Cavuto!

You have to wonder why Barney Frank would even bother going on FOX, knowing full well how these guys operate. Then you realize he does because he’s on a mission.

“I’ve never said that. I can’t deal with all of your distortions here,” Frank said. Just before he went on to deal with all of Cavutos distortions.

Maybe that’s why. Not because the message needs to get out, because the last thing in the world folks like Cavuto want is to let the message get out. But, because the tenacity and refusal to cave into the abuse makes that fact oh so very clear ...

FOX DOES NOT WANT TO LET THE MESSAGE GET OUT!

Confused? Well, loyal regular FOX viewers just have to be ... why else are they there?
Proud to say I’m not one of them.

Oh I am so sorry! GEES, how insensitive can I be? This is a free country! Of course FOX viewers have a perfect right to watch FOX.

Gentle reminder though ... you also have a perfect right to watch something else once in a while ... just to keep you fair and balanced.

Holy crap!

Good job by Barney Frank. Neil Cavuto proves himself to be a Fox lackey.

My take is that Frank goes half way. This Home Depot debacle should be a warning of “buyers beware”. Perhaps if investment in the stock market dried up as a result of these robberies the corporate world would shape up. In the least, there would be no funding for the “golden parachutes”. Do you see stock holders of Home Depot selling their shares like there’s no tomorrow? I guess this incident didn’t hurt them enough to abandon ship. Why waste time and taxes legislating protection for victims who only return for more abuse?

It never ceases to amaze me as to how these Quasi Capitalists find it so difficult to understand that the owners (ie. shareholders) have some very essential rights that come with their ownership.