WASHINGTON — A long-bearded star of “Duck Dynasty” was among the wild mix of special guests packing the decorous House chamber for President Obama’s State of the Union Address.
Willie Robertson, who stars in the popular reality-TV show about his family’s duck-call business, attended as a guest of Rep. Vance McAllister (R-La.). Robertson, whose show is based in Louisiana, endorsed McAllister in a tough election last year, helping him win a seat in Congress.
McAllister called Robertson his “close friend” when announcing the invite, adding that together they would bring “some diversity to our nation’s capital.”
Another guest who recently grabbed headlines was Fort Lee, NJ, Mayor Mark Sokolich, the alleged target of political retribution in the Bridgegate scandal, which has been dogging Gov. Chris Christie.
The mayor accompanied New Jersey Democrat Congressman Bill Pascrell to the big show.
New York student Estiven Rodriguez’s outstanding academic and sports performance at Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School earned him a seat as guest of First Lady Michelle Obama. Rodriguez, the son a Dominican immigrant, barely understood English when he came to the United States at age 9. Now he’s going to Pennsylvania’s Dickinson College.
Other notables included:
• Myunghee Bae and Terri Chung, the mother and sister of Kenneth Bae, the American citizen jailed in North Korea, were guests of Reps. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) and Charles Rangel (D-NY).
• Charles Woods, whose son, Navy SEAL Ty Woods, was killed in the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, was the guest of Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.).
• Jason Collins, the first openly gay NBA player, was a guest of the first lady.
The crowd also included the familiar face of Fox News host Sean Hannity — who recently declared he was pulling his New York-based TV and radio shows out of the state over an anti-conservative rant by Gov. Cuomo a couple weeks ago. Hannity came with Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), a Tea Party favorite.