Congressman invites father of SEAL killed at Benghazi to SOTU

The guests list for the State of the Union speech is going to have some interesting characters. President and Mrs. Obama will have these and others sitting in the House gallery watching the proceedings:

  • Carlos Arredondo and Jeff Bauman of Boston, both of whom survived the Boston Marathon bombing and were captured in an iconic photograph showing a cowboy-hatted Arredondo rushing Bauman to safety.
  • Gary Bird, the Moore, Okla., fire chief instrumental in search and rescue efforts after a deadly tornado hit his town
  • Jason Collins, a professional basketball player who became the first male active player in a major professional team sport to announce he is gay
  • Joey Hudy, the Arizona teenage creator of the "extreme marshmallow cannon" that was featured at the White House Science Fair and tested by Obama
  • Kathy Hollowell-Makle, the District of Columbia public school's teacher of the year last year

The Hill reports on some of Michelle Obama's choices:

An immigration activist who fasted for more than three weeks, the first female CEO of General Motors and the school bookkeeper who talked down a gunman at an Atlanta-area elementary school will be among the guests joining the First Lady at the State of the Union, the White House announced Tuesday.

A Puerto Rico fourth grader who participated in the first lady's healthy recipe challenge, a legally blind environmental activist, and the first African-American female to achieve four-rank in U.S. military history will also be in attendance.

The selections signal that President Obama could discuss the government's divestment from the U.S. auto industry, gun violence, and ways the president could use executive action to affect climate policy during his address.

Invitations were also extended to Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, a red state Democrat who has embraced ObamaCare and Amanda Shelly, a 37-year old Arizona physician assistant whose emergency abdominal surgery was covered just days after her health coverage went into affect, suggesting the president will devote part of his speech to touting his signature legislative accomplishment.

Other guests include a South Carolina woman saddled with nearly $90,000 in student loan debt, the first Asian-American mayor of San Francisco, and the Native American founder of a manufacturing and trucking consortium. 

We're all going to get whiplash as the president will constantly be referring to this wonderful rainbow of diversity and mutli-culturalism who will be sitting in the gallery. It must have been a challenge to squeeze every race, every Obama-supporting ethnic group into the speech and not have the address last 5 hours.

Meanwhile, an invite of a different sort went out to a very special guest.

The Blaze:

The father of a former Navy SEAL who was killed in the September 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, will attend Tuesday's State of the Union address in the nation's capital.

Charles Woods will attend the address at the invitation of Rep. Jim Bridenstine, a Republican from Oklahoma.

"As a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand the importance of knowing that America leaves no one behind. I am honored to host the father of a true hero," Bridenstine said in a statement Monday.

The Oklahoma Congressman added that he invited Charles Woods as a way to reassure the mourning father that his son's sacrifice "will never be forgotten" in the U.S. Houses of Representatives.

President Barack Obama, whose administration suggested initially that Ty Woods was killed in an attack prompted by a YouTube video, will deliver the State of the Union address in the House chamber.

Woods was one of four Americans killed in the attack on Benghazi. The others included U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, Glen Doherty and Sean Smith.

Bridenstine is a member of contingent of Republican lawmakers that has called for a special committee to investigate the deadly September 2012 attacks.

Do you think it possible that any of the networks will take time out from showing all these fortunate Americans who are eternally grateful that Obama is president to focus on a grieving father who wants some answers from his government about how his son was left to die?





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