On Monday’s Your World, (1/7/13), Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) got a warm welcome to discuss his threat to shut down the federal government to force spending cuts. The only challenge from Cavuto was on political grounds, not over any actual deleterious effects such a measure might have. Meanwhile, Cavuto spoke admiringly about Salmon’s “vinegar and fight.”

Salmon filibustered. 

“I came to Washington this time to cut spending and to balance the budget. I didn’t come there to be a Congressman again, I came there to do a very specific job. Used to say I liked to fight for the next generation, to make sure we don’t pass those tax burdens on to them, or paying the debt back to them. But it’s not about future generations any more, it’s about the guy that retires tomorrow. And so, frankly, I believe we’ve got a very tough job to do, and it’s going to take some tough love. And after this latest bait and switch by Pelosi and the President, where they said, you know, ‘Just give us these revenues, these tax increases, and then we’ll roll over and play dead,’ well, that’s not what they’re doing. Unless Republicans man up and show that we’re willing to fight the fight, and do what has to be done, we’re not going to balance the budget.”

Salmon later added, “We have to employ everything that we possibly can. It’s not my first option.”

Cavuto did note that the Republican party was not behind Salmon’s stance. “Apparently not Speaker Boehner’s first option, and it’s not Mitch McConnell’s first option. A lot of prominent Republicans have said it’s not their option. You say it should be.”

Salmon replied, “It should be on the table. It should be an option. We should do whatever it takes to make sure that we get this budget balanced.”

Cavuto said, “Agree or disagree, you have some vinegar and fight in you, and whether people support your position or not, you’re one of the few who’s not afraid to state it, and I get a sense from a lot of your colleagues, that they’re running around with a tail between their legs, and they’re afraid of their own shadow. What’s happened to Republicans?” Cavuto closed by saying, “Congressman, I admire your guts, and it was very good having you.”

Instead of kissing up to the Congressman, Cavuto could have mentioned some of the negative effects of a government shutdown, such as slower economic growth, a threatened housing market, blocked tax refunds, increased deficits, small business loans blocked and 800,000 federal workers furloughed. But it was no surprise that he did not.