Lou Dobbs may have hit on a shrewd ratings ploy to strengthen CNN’s foundering numbers: Play clips from Fox News.

That’s right, he ran clips from two separate Fox shows in the span of three minutes, including one that featured nearly a full minute of commentary.* CNN may want to consider institutionalizing this approach:

“Good evening, I’m [CNN anchor]. On tonight’s program, we’ll hear what [Fox News personality] had to say about [news item/controversy] last night, and then we’ll talk about it.” (Roll tape)

*It is especially helpful if the highly-rated Fox show mentions you by name. Good luck with that, Rick Sanchez.