State of the Union Seating Planners Troll Ted Nugent, Put Him Next to Gay Civil Rights Activist

[kpete]

great story here:
http://www.blueoregon.com/2013/02/operation-sparkle-ted-nugent-gets-seated-next-thomas-lauderdale/

[SummerSnow]

1. Roflmao ..shit czar.Be careful what you wish for.

[riderinthestorm]

2. Had a passing thought about Nugent and where he ended up last night

and then I promptly forgot about him!

This is great however - the look on his face - priceless!

[arthritisR_US]

3. Aww Karma, she's my friend :). n/t

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kudos to the seating planner.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[Gman]

5. There is no left and right in music

Only the music.

[onenote]

6. Its a cute story but almost certainly not the result of any intentional decisionmaking

First, seating for the SOTU falls under the jurisdiction of the House Sergeant at Arms, who is picked by the Speaker. He's not making politically based decisions about seating. Plus there are several hundred seats in the gallery and its not like they have the time to be wedding planners assiging seats based on who the guest is. According to a longtime veteran House staffer I asked, each member is assigned a seat for their guest before they know who that member's guest will be (or even whether the member will have a guest).

It was fortuitous, but almost certainly just a matter of chance.

[Warpy]

7. ...and a much better musician, to boot

I didn't know he was a gay rights activist, but I'm not a bit surprised, especially given Dopey Ted's body language in that shot. He looks ready to climb up on the railing so the liberal don't rub off.

[Buck Turgidson]

11. Pink Martini video

[vanlassie]

13. WOW. Fantastic

[kysrsoze]

8. He's really close to a brown person. Awesome!

[LonePirate]

9. What did Lauderdale do to piss off the seating planners?

I wouldn't want to be seated next to Nugent.

[Jim Lane]

12. Think of what a great story he has to tell! (n/t)

[felix_numinous]

10. If he leaned any further to the right

he would fall off that chair LOL!!

[MrSlayer]

14. Apparently, Ted was a perfect gentleman.

According to the story, they spoke at length and got along . The picture and implication seem to be an unfair representation of what occurred. Did people really expect him to be rude and disruptive?