The State of the Union is never short on political statements. Michelle Obama will, tonight, be taking a page from Clint Eastwood, for example, and featuring an empty chair by her side to represent all of the voiceless victims of gun violence her husband will avenge with his slate of startlingly ineffective Executive Orders. Paul Ryan will be bringing representatives from the Little Sisters of the Poor to confront Barack Obama’s lack of charity in preserving the tenets of religious freedom. Ted Cruz will be skipping the speech to make an impassioned speech somewhere in the heartland while holding the Bill of Rights. He may even be posing for a painting.

And the Family Research Council will use it’s ticket to the event to bring – who else? – Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis who became a folk hero in the fight for traditional marriage after she refused to allow her employees to sign marriage licenses for same sex couples. 

Because, obviously.

Kim Davis will attend Obama’s speech Tuesday night after the Family Research Council arranged for her to be in the House audience along with her attorney Mat Staver.

The Rowan County clerk will be in the audience along with Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case legalizing gay marriage across the country, who will be a guest of President Obama.

Davis has visited Washington before, including when she secretly met with Pope Francis during the pontiff’s visit to the city last year. The meeting was confirmed after Francis left the U.S.

 

Davis also attended an event for the Family Research Council in D.C. on Monday night.

 No offense, but that might not be the best idea. Sure, you might be all YAY KIM DAVIS when it comes to resisting the authority of the state to compel you to violate your conscience (though it’s likely Kim Davis wasn’t in the right when she compelled her employees to abide by her conviction and violated her oath of office), but perhaps we shouldn’t be actively rewarding a government official that just did whatever the heck they wanted while complaining that Obama is overstepping his boundaries as President. There are better spokeswomen for the right of Free Expression. I suppose Paul Ryan had already invited them, though.