Mark Finkelstein, please define “fawning”

Boy, it's like the Newsbusters crew is trying to set some sort of record for inane media criticism in a single day. Earlier, Tim Graham said the Washington Post's obituary of Patrick Swayze proved the paper's liberal bias by not mentioning Red Dawn until the 23rd paragraph.

Now Mark Finkelstein attacks MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan for conducting a “fawning” interview of Barney Frank, with Finkelstein throwing around the words “sycophant” and “suck-up” and “appeasing” to describe Ratigan's behavior.

Here's the problem: the interview in question included a testy exchange in which Ratigan repeatedly interrupted Frank as he tried to answer a question.

It's awfully strange to see an interview in which the interviewee feels the need to insist “I'm trying to answer it ... I'm trying to answer it ... these things are somewhat complicated. And they can't all be answered in eight seconds. ... So I wish you would let me answer the question” described as “fawning,” but that's what passes as media criticism on the Right.