Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine may soon win a much larger profile. After Sen. Tom Coburn decided to retire early, setting up a November 2014 election for his seat, Bridenstine told supporters that he was listening to their entreaties and thinking about a run. Practically his first act since making that announcement was this:
Charles Woods, father of Navy SEAL Ty Woods who was killed in Benghazi, is Congressman Jim Bridenstine’s guest for the State of the Union Tuesday evening.
The President typically stacks the gallery with victims of various policies he wants to change. Republican Leadership has urged Members to invite as guests people who have been victims of Obamacare.
Congressman Bridenstine is hosting a genuine victim of failed foreign policy, who continues to be victimized by failure to appoint a House Select Committee to get to the bottom of what happened the night his son was murdered in Benghazi and to assure that what happened then will not be repeated.
Charles Woods is probably the most prominent family member of a Benghazi victim. It was Woods, really, who turned the GOP on to the larger #Benghazi narrative when he called into a radio show and said his son had been left to die by callous superiors. Woods claimed at first that the administration could see what was happening via a drone (not true), then told much more credible and damning stories about how he’d been treated. Hillary Clinton had told him, “We’re going to go out and we’re going to prosecute that person that made the video.” Joe Biden had complimented his dead son’s “balls.” On the right, Woods is an unsung hero blowing a whistle that the media refuses to hear.
“I’m glad he’s going to be there,” Sen. John McCain told me today. “I have spoken to members of all the families, and they’re distraught that they still have not found out who was responsible for their sons’ and family members’ death.” I asked McCain whether the Woods appearance might spur some action from Obama. “I don’t know,” he laughed, ruefully. “He doesn’t consult me.”
Also calling for the State of the Union to return to Benghazi: Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts.
