Rep. Lauren Boebert doubles down on heckling during State of the Union
Rep. Lauren Boebert doubled down Wednesday on her heckling of President Biden during the State of the Union address over his chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal that left 13 US soldiers dead.
“The left is pissed because I called out Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that left 13 of America’s finest in a flag-draped coffin. They are mad because a speech was ‘interrupted’. Ask the the families who lost their loved ones how interrupted their lives are now,” the Colorado Republican tweeted Wednesday morning.
The night before, Boebert shouted at the president as he spoke about veterans’ exposure to toxic burn pits, mentioning his late son Beau in the process.
“They come home, many of the world’s fittest and best-trained warriors in the world, never the same,” Biden said. “Headaches, numbness, dizziness. A cancer that would put them in a flag-draped coffin.”
“You put them in! Thirteen of them!” yelled Boebert.
The reference to the deaths of 13 US service members who were killed in an August bombing at Kabul’s airport drew shouted objections from other members.
The interjection drew comparisons from some commentators to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ripping up her copy of then-President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in February 2020.
Boebert defended her remark following Biden’s speech, tweeting: “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.”
Her doubled-down defense comes as both current and former members of Congress on both sides of the aisle slammed her and fellow conservative Rep. Majorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.) for their heckling during Tuesday’s event.
Throughout Biden’s speech, Greene was spotted making faces and muttering, particularly when the president spoke about administering COVID-19 vaccines to children. She also yelled out “Build the wall!” when Biden said that it was necessary to “secure the border.”
Sen. John Thune (R-SD) told “CBS Mornings” Wednesday that the “antics” of Boebert and Greene had been “inappropriate.”
“[The] State of the Union speech, whether you agree with the president or not, it is an opportunity to show the American people the respect that the Office deserves,” added Thune, who predicted that “there’ll be plenty of condemnation from people, colleagues and whatnot, and just a recognition that those types of antics in a setting like that are inappropriate. And I think – I think everybody would agree with that.”
“I watched the #SOTU last night. There were issues I strongly agreed with. There were other issues I strongly disagree with. That’s called independent thinking,” tweeted former Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia before adding: “But we can maybe all agree that Lauren Boebert is classless. An embarrassment to the House.”
Boebert received fervent condemnation from Democrats like Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who tweeted: “The president was talking about his dead soldier son. You and @RepMTG were a national disgrace tonight. But worse — because you are irrelevant — [House Minority Leader] Kevin McCarthy owns all of this. He won’t condemn you because he is a colossal coward.”
“I don’t understand a person who yells at our president when he’s talking about the loss of his son, in service to the country, in the military,” Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), the head of the House Democratic campaign arm, told Business Insider. “I don’t know that I belong to the same human race as someone who thinks it makes sense to yell at someone when they’re talking about their dead son, and veterans who are suffering because of wounds incurred during their service.
“So I think it was a disgraceful moment, but we’ve come to expect it from those members, sadly,” Maloney added.
Progressive Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), an Iraq War veteran, also blasted the lawmakers.
“As someone that lived next to a burn pit I don’t appreciate [that] @RepMTG and @laurenboebert Had to interrupt the first time ever burn pits are mentioned in a State Union of address to score a political partisan point. #trash,” he tweeted.
Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, also slammed Boebert, saying her comment was “certainly a stain on her.”
“We’ve known for a very long time that Lauren Boebert doesn’t know what she’s doing and is not interested in legislating or even knowing the issues and knowing the facts, but it becomes increasingly clear the level of her depravity, which is deep,” he told the Colorado Politics website.
“It was inappropriate for the family of the fallen that were actually in that chamber,” Crow added. “She certainly doesn’t understand service and doesn’t understand sacrifices. She can’t wrap her brain around it. But I would encourage her to stop the outbursts.”
Boebert doubled down Wednesday morning, tweeting: “The left is pissed because I called out Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that left 13 of America’s finest in a flag-draped coffin. They are mad because a speech was ‘interrupted’. Ask the the families who lost their loved ones how interrupted their lives are now.”
Biden did not mention the Afghanistan pullout during his remarks, a fact which McCarthy himself noted on Twitter Tuesday night.
“To the 13 American families who lost loved ones in Afghanistan in August, you deserved to be recognized by the President tonight,” he wrote. “Americans remember your sacrifice, and we are forever indebted to you.”
McCarthy had no immediate comment about Boebert and Greene’s outbursts.
