With Joe Biden’s State of the Union address hours away, one question that I can’t help asking is “what kind of drama will it bring?” It’s quite clear that Biden plans to use the opportunity to sell his “accomplishments” to the nation — in what may be his final pitch for selling a second term to his own party, which polls show doesn’t want him as its 2024 nominee.
So, in light of what will most certainly be a lengthy list of lies, will there be any notable incidents during Biden’s State of the Union address? There’s no denying that these addresses have become, like everything else, increasingly politicized, especially in recent years. What might tonight bring?
Perhaps to answer that question, we should look to the past.
2022: Lauren Boebert heckles Biden over Afghanistan
Last year, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) infamously heckled Biden after he invoked dead American soldiers.
“And they come home — many of the world’s fittest and best-trained warriors in the world — never the same: headaches, numbness, dizziness, a cancer that would put them in a flag-draped coffin. I know,” Biden said.
The line came mere months after his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, which caused the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in a terrorist attack at Kabul airport.
“You put them in. Thirteen of them,” Boebert shouted at him.
After the speech, Boebert defended her actions on Twitter. “When Biden said flag draped coffins I couldn’t stay silent. I told him directly he did it. He put 13 in there. Our heroic servicemen and women deserve so much better,” she tweeted. Will Biden get heckled again? Over what this time?
2020: Pelosi tears up Trump’s speech
In 2020, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi infamously ripped up her print copy of President Trump’s State of the Union address.
Pelosi claims she ripped up the speech “because it was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives. I tore it up. I was trying to find one page with truth on it. I couldn’t.”
But not everyone was amused. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called for Pelosi to be censured.
“As Speaker of the House for four State of the Unions by a President of the other party I am disgusted and insulted by the viciously partisan action of Nancy Pelosi tearing up the speech,” Gingrich tweeted. “She isn’t clever or cute her childishness insults our American traditions – should be censured.”
Will Speaker Kevin McCarthy tear up Biden’s speech? He probably should, but he won’t.
2010: Obama attacks the Supreme Court
Barack Obama stunned many with his lack of decorum during his 2010 State of the Union address when he reprimand the Supreme Court for its decision in the Citizens United case.
“Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections,” Obama said. It was a lie, of course, and his stunning display of disrespect towards the Supreme Court prompted Justice Samuel Alito to say “not true,” while sitting in the audience.
With this being his first address to a joint session of Congress since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, I’d expect Biden to similarly attack the Supreme Court’s ruling as Obama did in 2010. If he does this, pay close attention to the justices in the room.
2009: Joe Wilson shouts, ‘You lie!’ at Obama
Perhaps the most infamous example of drama at a State of the Union address came in 2009, during Barack Obama’s first address to a joint session of Congress, during which he defended his health care reform plan, which would become known as Obamacare.
“There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants,” Obama claimed. “This too is false. The reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.”
“You lie!” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted. Everyone in the room, including Obama, could hear him.
Wilson later apologized for his outburst, though he was, in fact, correct that Obama was lying. There have been numerous reports over the years of illegal immigrants getting health insurance through Obamacare. According to a 2016 Senate study, illegal immigrants got as much as $750 million in ObamaCare subsidies.
Outbursts like this tend to reflect poorly on the individual making the outburst. Wilson may have been right, but that doesn’t mean members of both parties don’t tend to frown upon the behavior publicly.
