Rep. Alan Grayson Hates Me, Not Fox
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP MONTAGE)
REP. ALAN GRAYSON, D-FLA.: The Fox News and the Republican collaborators are the enemy of America.
GRAYSON: Die quickly.
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GRAYSON: People come on the air, they insult them as they did me. They cut off their mics as they did me. They shout at them and interrupt them as they did me.
GRAYSON: The Republicans want you to die quickly.
GRAYSON: They even curse at them as they did me.
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GRAYSON: This lobbyist, this K Street whore.
GRAYSON: Fox News and The National Enquirer are basically interchangeable.
(END VIDEO MONTAGE)
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All right, I've had enough. I keep hearing this. I'd ignore it otherwise, but I've had enough.
I think I know why Alan Grayson hates Fox News. It's not about Fox; it's about me.
Really.
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These wacky tirades of his have nothing to do with whether we're not fair, but whether in one interview, in particular, the good congressman was remotely informed.
Take a look — this is why Alan Grayson hates Fox:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM 'CAVUTO' INTERVIEW ON MARCH 31, 2009)
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GRAYSON: This bill only talks about unreasonable compensation.
CAVUTO: Who's defining unreasonable?
(CROSSTALK)
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GRAYSON: Seriously, Neil, are any secretaries getting million-dollar bonuses. If so, please let me know.
CAVUTO: So then state it. State it. What is unreasonable to you? Tell me now. What is unreasonable?
GRAYSON: If you get a $10 million bonus for destroying your company and putting the whole U.S. economy at risk, that's unreasonable to me and that's what this bill prevents.
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CAVUTO: OK, you know what I would agree. If you are getting that money and you brought the company under, I'd sign onto this thing with you, Congressman.
GRAYSON: That's what this bill does.
CAVUTO: Wait, did you mention this $10 million thing in this bill?
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GRAYSON: What do you mean, by number?
CAVUTO: Yeah.
GRAYSON: No, because that would say that $9,999,999 is OK. And we're not saying it's OK.
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CAVUTO: Did you give a range. Congressman, is there a range in this?
GRAYSON: No, the secretary of the Treasury is going to establish the ranges.
CAVUTO: But do you see where this is going, Congressman? I know your intentions are good. But what you're doing here is putting Congress in the role of determining what is OK and what is not OK. What compensation is excessive and what compensation isn't. Who's to say this $10 million figure…
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GRAYSON: That's just wrong Neil.
CAVUTO: Well, you didn't even give me a range!
GRAYSON: Neil, that's just wrong. We can punish bad people without punishing good people. That's what the law does every single day. And that's what this law does.
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CAVUTO: You're not even telling me what this law includes, Congressman.
GRAYSON: No, I think I did.
CAVUTO: No you didn't. You didn't give me a level and number, that's all I'm asking.
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GRAYSON: Well that's for the secretary of the Treasury to do. We have separation of powers, Neil, we have a Constitution.
CAVUTO: I know, Congressman, but you're giving him carte blanche powers and you're not even defining what those ranges for those powers are. I think as taxpayers we have a right to know what we're writing off on.
GRAYSON: No, you're wrong Neil. No, we set the general rules. The executive branch executes on them. That's how the Constitution works.
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CAVUTO: But in the general rules, you're leaving it up to the Treasury to decide what are adequate compensation levels for everyone at that federally rescued company.
GRAYSON: Lots of rules are like that, Neil. In the Constitution we have due process and equal protection. That's all the Constitution says.
(LATER EXCERPT OF INTERVIEW)
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CAVUTO: What's to stop you from just willy nilly going after any company you damn well please?
GRAYSON: That’s ridiculous. No one's contemplation that. Why don't you ask that question to Tim Geithner. You think he's going to say a secretary can make no more than $5,000 a year?
CAVUTO: I don't know, I don't know, you know what…
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GRAYSON: This is a paranoid fantasy.
CAVUTO: You know what I will ask him, because you don't answer a simple question. We have entrusted in you oversight to make sure these abuses don't happen. You're answer to those abuses is, 'I'm going to police excessive pay.' When I ask you what excessive pay is, and how you would define it, you didn't even give me a range. I'm not the one insulting you, Congressman…
GRAYSON: I told you that if we set a number…
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CAVUTO: …You are the one insulting Americans who have better stock in thinking that their leaders can do a better job. You're humilitating them, not the crooks you say are running the companies.
GRAYSON: That's absurd. We're passing a law that stops a bad thing from happening. You're creating this parade of horribles that will never happen
CAVUTO: And you can't even define the bad thing!
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GRAYSON: I just told you what would happen. A bad thing is a $160 million…
CAVUTO: If the Treasury gives me a range, God bless him, because I've asked you every which way to give me a range. Either you couldn't or you wouldn't, or felt that you shouldn't. We pay you, Congressman. Act like it.
GRAYSON: Neil, I'm not the one using profanity on the air. I'm not the one interrupting the guest to show incredible rudeness on the air. I'm simply the one trying to answer your questions and make America a better place.
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CAVUTO: You know what, Congressman, I'll tell you when I’m rude to guests. I'm rude to guests when they don’t answer a question all taxpayers have a right to know. That is when I’m rude.
GRAYSON: Well you're being very rude.
CAVUTO: So be it. We'll have more after this.
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(END VIDEO CLIP)
All right, I said "damn," so I guess that's cursing. I'm sorry. But I never cut off his mic. I went to a commercial. He was done. I was done.
But apparently I did create a nut, by rudely interrupting a nut and demanding repeatedly a simple answer to a not-so-nutty simple question: How far is too far for a government dictating people's pay?
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The congressman wouldn't say and that drove me nuts. It almost affected my appetite that night. Fortunately I got over it.
Had I only known I was dealing with a nut and one who much prefers softball interviews or, barring that, no interviews at all.
Now you know.
My friend Bill O'Reilly has his No-Spin Zone. From here on out, I have something else: A No-Nut Zone.
— Watch Neil Cavuto weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on "Your World with Cavuto" and send your comments to cavuto@foxnews.com