{"id":41916,"date":"2022-03-02T04:37:22","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T11:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/boeberts-outburst-on-afghanistan-jolts-state-of-the-union\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:04:17","slug":"boeberts-outburst-on-afghanistan-jolts-state-of-the-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/boeberts-outburst-on-afghanistan-jolts-state-of-the-union\/","title":{"rendered":"Boebert\u2019s outburst on Afghanistan jolts State of the Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rep.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., left, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., right, scream \u201cBuild the Wall\u201d as President Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol Tuesday in Washington. (Evelyn Hockstein\/Pool via AP)<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 As President Joe Biden was coming to the end of his State of the Union address Tuesday night, a somber moment about his son\u2019s death turned into a stunning outburst by one of the Republicans\u2019 most outspoken members.<\/p>\n

Delivering the loudest heckling of Biden during the speech, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado blamed Biden for the 13 service members who were killed during the U.S. withdrawal in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

It was just the latest breach of decorum for a presidential address, an annual event where unruly behavior by lawmakers has become almost expected<\/a>. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson shouted \u201cyou lie!\u201d at President Barack Obama during a joint speech to Congress in 2009. Eleven years later, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up a copy of President Donald Trump\u2019s speech while standing behind him.<\/p>\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., left, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., right, scream \u201cBuild the Wall\u201d as President Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol on Tuesday in Washington. (Evelyn Hockstein\/Pool via AP)<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Boebert\u2019s moment came as Biden began to discuss how his son, who died of cancer, was among the many veterans who may have suffered from toxic exposure injuries from military burn pits, used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cA cancer that put them in a flag-draped coffin\u201d Biden started to say when Boebert yelled, \u201cYou put them in. Thirteen of them!\u201d<\/p>\n

The comment drew an outpouring of boos from Democrats, adding a note of division to an address that received several moments of robust bipartisan applause. Democrats and Republicans from both chambers stood up and clapped as the president discussed the strength and resolute of the Ukrainian people in the face of Russian aggression.<\/p>\n

Members stood together as Biden called for an end to the opioid epidemic and when he declared that \u201cdefund the police\u201d is not the answer to the crisis between law enforcement and the communities they serve. But it was when the mention of veterans and providing support for victims of burn pits, a normally bipartisan topic, that Boebert stood to make her case about what many in the GOP see as Biden\u2019s failed withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan last summer. \u201cI couldn\u2019t stay silent,\u201d Boebert tweeted after the speech. \u201cOur heroic servicemen and women deserve so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., listens as President Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. (J. Scott Applewhite\/Associated Press pool)<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Representative from Colorado blames Biden for deaths in Afghanistan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,716,367],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-41916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-president-joseph-biden","tag-u-s-rep-lauren-boebert"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85146,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41916\/revisions\/85146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41916"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=41916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}