March 15, 2013

Fox & Friends hosted “high school student” Dalton Glasscock yesterday morning to tug at their Obama-hating viewers' heartstrings with the sad tale about how his spring break trip to Washington, D.C. was ruined by the cancellation of White House tours. But it’s more likely the cancellation actually made his trip, if not his year. What the “we report, you decide” network didn’t mention is that he’s a Republican activist who was also taking part in CPAC. The fact that Glasscock thanked the show for having him on and was given a chance to rattle off his anti-Obama talking points suggested the whole thing was more of a boon than a bust. So did his Twitter feed.

Although nobody on the show mentioned Glasscock’s partisan activities, it’s quite unlikely they didn’t know: Glasscock was profiled late last summer by Fox News when he worked as a page at the Republican National Convention. He told FNC’s Todd Starnes, “Basically the main job of a page is to rally the base and show people that, not only the Republican party, but the youth is excited about the Romney/Ryan ticket.” He also noted that while this was the first election in which he could vote, “I’ve been involved in campaigns before.” Glasscock lists his other Republican activities on his blog, which also includes his satiric poem, "The Night Before Barackmas." And oh, look! Starnes enthused about Glassock's upcoming Fox appearance in a tweet, too.

Given Fox’s over-the-top fixation on White House tours (and its blind eye to how the sequester cuts are threatening programs in housing assistance, early childhood education, disaster relief, and national security.), Glasscock may well have seen this whole episode as another opportunity to rally young people for the GOP.

So it's hard to believe Steve Doocy was anything but disingenuous when he introduced Glasscock by saying, "He is a high school student from Wichita, Kansas who was looking forward to touring the White House on Tueday." Or when he prompted asked Glasscock, "I understand you blame the president of the United States here. You say he’s being petty in closing down the White House tours."

Glasscock had his GOP talking points down. He even worked in Benghazi:

Yes, sir. Even though he doesn’t blame himself, I think the blame relies on him. It seems like he’s a president who doesn’t want to take responsibility for anything. First, he blames Benghazi on the State Department and then White House tours on his Secret Service, so what happened to "The buck stops here?”

Yeah!” Doocy exclaimed. Later, after probing Glasscocks's thoughts on what “other areas of White House spending should be cut instead,” Doocy asked him, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I don’t know," Glasscock said. "I’m looking down the business road but wherever God calls me, I’ll gladly go."

Well, if God is calling him to Fox News, the kid certainly aced his first interview.

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