The State of the Union is occasion to make political statements through invited guests almost more so than it is through the speech itself and various responses. This years guest list doesn’t fail to disappoint. Here is a line up of some noteworthy attendees.
1. Willie Robertson: Rep Vance McAllister (R-LA) is bringing the Duck Dynasty star from whom he also scored an endorsement for reelection. The Robertsons and their hit show were plastered all over the news when patriarch Phil Robertson made some politically incorrect comments in GQ magazine.
2. Sean Hannity: Hannity will be the guest of Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX). Could this be a warm up for a possible Congressional run? “The answer is yes. I’d think about it,” Hannity said during a Tuesday Twitter Q&A on Fox News. “It would be in either Texas or Florida.”
3. Mayor of Fort Lee New Jersey: Mayor Mark Sokolich will be the guest of Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. Mayor Sokolich has recently been making headlines threatening Chris Christie’s bid for the 2016 White House. The Mayor suggested that Governor Christie had knowledge of an intentional shut down of lanes to the George Washington Bridge out of political spite because Sokolich refused to endorse the Governor.
4. Chad Henderson: Henderson will be the guest of Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX). Henderson’s 15 minutes of fame involve telling “a slew of news outlets nationwide that he and his father had successfully enrolled under Obamacare – when they hadn’t.” According to Buzzfeed, Henderson has accepted the invite.
5. GM CEO Mary Barra: The first woman to run an American automaker will be a guest of MObama. General Motors lost almost $11B of taxpayer money after receiving a federal bailout.
6. NBA Star Jason Collins: Another guest of MObama is NBA star Collins, “who last year became the first active male athlete on a major American sports team to come out as openly gay. He played for 12 years in the NBA. Obama has said his announcement marked progress for the gay community.”
7. Charles Woods, father of Ty Woods: Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) is bringing Charles Woods father of slain Navy SEAL Ty Woods killed at Benghazi on a diplomatic mission. Woods was one of four Americans killed on September 11, 2012 along with Ambassador Chris Stevens.