President Obama will deliver his much-anticipated jobs speech tonight to a joint session of Congress, but a number GOP lawmakers will not be there. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has led a boycott of the event because he disagrees with the medium in which Obama’s message will be delivered — he’s demanding a written text instead of a speech — and Tea Party congressmen like Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) have leveraged the snub into cable news interviews. But asked about the truants this morning on Fox News, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said, “We owe it to the office of the presidency to listen to his views.” Watch it:
Update:
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is encouraging members not to boycott Obama’s speech, saying, “we ought to be respectful and we ought to welcome him.”
Update:
Rep. Thad McCotter (R-MI), who is running for president, told the Daily Caller that he’ll be at the speech, explaining, “That’s my job.”