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 Will there be any Republican theatrics tonight during President Obama's State of the Union address? The question is buzzing around Capitol Hill. 
 
 TPMDC asked House Minority Whip Eric Cantor if he has given Republican members any direction about how they should behave tonight given Rep. Joe Wilson's shout of "You lie" during President Obama's last address to Congress in September. He said he hoped there would be no outbursts. 
 
 (Though Cantor (R-VA) told me last time around that Republicans would be "attentive." As we all know, that didn't happen.) 
 
 For his part, Wilson (R-SC) says he will be a "gentleman" tonight. 
 
 Instead, Wilson will give a "live" response on Facebook following the address, he told supporters today on Twitter. 
 
 The DCCC has already challenged Wilson (R-SC) on whether he'll pull another stunt. Rep. Todd Tiahart (R-KS) joked that it was a fundraising boost for Wilson, according to the Wichita Eagle. 
 
 Republicans weren't shy about criticizing the president before his speech, however. 
 
 "Any time a president comes to Capitol Hill it is an historic occasion," Cantor said, adding a caveat that he hopes Obama has "listened and learned" that his agenda is not supported by the American people. 
 
 Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) said he agrees with "80 percent of what [Obama] says and disagrees with 80 percent of what he does." 
 
 He also said the president's spending freeze proposal has "a whole lot more to do with headlines than deficit lines." 
 
 Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform offered a mocking State of the Union "Bingo" which includes a "government subsidized free space" and Obama favorite "let me be clear" as spaces on the board. ||||| WASHINGTON—Members of Congress didn't hold hands or sing as they listened to President Barack Obama's speech Tuesday night, but they did almost everything else to show they were heeding the recent calls for greater comity. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Reuters President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address Tuesday to a joint session of Congress. 
 
 They applauded Mr. Obama twice as much together as the Democrats applauded him alone. Applause did not even always divide along party lines, a break from the past when the president's party cheered raucously while the opposition remained silent. 
 
 In another anomaly, lawmakers of different parties sat together during the speech. The scramble to secure bipartisan dates leading up to the event had given the Capitol the aura of a pre-prom frenzy. 
 
 Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) agreed several days ago to sit with Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.). On Tuesday, he encountered Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah) in a Senate elevator and told him, "I wanted you to be my date, but I already asked Tom." 
 
 When Sens. John Thune (R., S.D.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.), said they'd be sitting together, aides began calling them the prom king and queen, since they're considered two of the better-looking members of Congress. Lawmakers admit the bar is low. 
 
 "To a certain extent, this has been a little bit of a dating show: 'Who are you going with?"' said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska). "It reminds me a little bit of eighth grade." She added, "There are no cooties to be had between Republicans and Democrats." 
 
 Lawmakers have been sitting together by party since President Woodrow Wilson began delivering the address to Congress in person in 1913, according to Third Way, the centrist Democratic group that proposed the joint seating. 
 
 Since the Jan. 8 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D., Ariz.), many members of Congress have called for greater civility. That led to a series of unorthodox pairings Tuesday night and a State of the Union unlike any other, just two months after a turbulent election. 
 
 A seat was kept empty amid the members of Arizona's congressional delegation in tribute to Ms. Giffords, and lawmakers wore black-and-white ribbons in honor of the shooting's victims, six of whom died. 
 
 Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), one of the most conservative members of Congress and a tea-party favorite, sat next to Sen. Mark Udall (D., Colo.). Sens. John Cornyn (R., Texas) and Patty Murray (D., Wash.), who are leading their parties' campaign efforts, were paired up. Indeed, Mr. Cornyn spent much of the past year unsuccessfully trying to defeat Ms. Murray. 
 
 As he entered the chamber, Mr. Obama leaned over to grasp the hand of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.), who later gave the tea-party response to his address. 
 
 Rep. Joe Wilson (R., S.C.), who gained attention in 2009 for calling out "You lie!" during another Obama speech to a joint session of Congress, chatted amiably with Rep. Susan Davis (D., Calif.). 
 
 Sens. John McCain (R., Ariz.) and John Kerry (D., Mass.), their parties' most recent losing presidential candidates, also engaged in a lively conversation before the speech. During the address, Republicans and Democrats exchanged quiet comments at some remarks by Mr. Obama. 
 
 Republican Analyst Ron Bonjean tells Jerry Seib and Kelly Evans that while President Obama made attempts to reach across the aisle in his State of the Union Address, Republicans are still skeptical about many of his talking points. 
 
 All day Tuesday, lawmakers tried to ensure they could sit beside their dates. At 5 p.m., four hours before the speech, more than 200 lawmakers, about 10 times the usual number, had reserved seats by placing placards with their names on the chairs. 
 
 As in any dating situation, some faced rejection. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) asked Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) to sit with him, but she declined, saying she was already sitting with Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R., Md.). Mr. Cantor ended up sitting with Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott, a fellow Virginian. 
 
 Sen. Udall (D., Colo.), the chief congressional promoter of the bipartisan seating craze, suggested ways to continue the civil tone in coming weeks, for example by holding monthly bipartisan lunches. 
 
 But any such push faces challenges. Right after rubbing elbows at the speech, lawmakers headed out into a Capitol hall to launch partisan slings at each other on camera. 
 
 Write to Naftali Bendavid at naftali.bendavid@wsj.com ||||| News 12 NBC 26 News At 11 | Monday, April 10, 2017 
 
 AIKEN COUNTY, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) -- A South Carolina Congressman got an earful Monday night from the people he serves across the region. 
 
 Republican Joe Wilson held a town hall meeting with folks at Aiken Technical College Monday where the Republicans' plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act drew some cheers and plenty of boos and criticism. While he stopped to talk before and after the meeting, there were some not in favor of what he had to say. 
 
 Boos and chants fill the gym while cell phone videos roll at Congressman Joe Wilson's town hall meeting at Aiken Tech. The State's Second Congressional Representative spoke about several issues and topics throughout the evening, but his stand on healthcare drew the most jeers from the crowd of over 100. 
 
 Among them is William Leaphart, who lives in Lexington but has family ties to the area. He says he arrived at the town hall with hopes of talking with his representative, but ended up leaving with more questions than answers. 
 
 "He was pretty evasive on a whole bunch of issues, especially with healthcare," Leaphart says. "He just gave a whole bunch of different talking points but nothing really new about solutions for people in the second Congressional District." 
 
 Leaphart and many others say the biggest talking point of the night also has the biggest impact. 
 
 "I think people are so concerned about healthcare," Leaphart says, "just because the government tried to take it away and I think a lot of people don't really know what they have or what they're going to miss until it's about to be taken away. And we see that they tried to do it and it really didn't work, so I think that struck a nerve with a whole bunch of people." 
 
 Boos were loud and long, even as the Republican tried to provide more context to his answers about climate change, illegal immigration, cyber-security and the War in Syria. Wilson did draw support folks like Brandon Knight during the meeting and says folks who kept their boos going through his answers are hard to reason with on any issue. 
 
 "I believe a lot of the people who was here tonight wasn't here to listen to Congressman Wilson. They was here to cause a disturbance, chaos, disrupt the meeting," Knight says. "They weren't here to actually listen to solutions, what he had to say. I just believe they had their own agenda." 
 
 The crowd cheered after several of the Congressman's answers. Among them included denying man-made resources are adding to global warming, being against Planned Parenthood and his endorsement of the clean coal industry, potential open-carry gun laws and the Keystone Pipeline. 
 
 He did draw cheers from the crowd after saying he's against gerrymandering while also being in support of alternative resources like nuclear energy, more support for America’s veterans and allowing all legal immigrants to come to America. But he drew more boos after saying anyone staying here illegally should be deported back to their country. 
 
 Knight, from North Augusta, says the healthcare was also his biggest concern coming into the meeting and says he's all for a new plan that will save him and his family more money. 
 
 "The Affordable Care Act hasn't been very affordable to me because my premiums have gone up, the care's gone down," Knight says. "I've got friends and family in the same situation, so it's obviously not working for the working middle class." 
 
 Congressman Wilson says he, President Trump and other House Republicans are still fighting for change even after the new American Health Care Act recently failed to get a vote. He says while others around the country are still in favor, he says there's a better plan out there. 
 
 "My concern about Obamacare is that we have already seen skyrocketing premiums, we have seen deductibles become unapproachable to work with," Congressman Wilson says. "People have lost their doctors, they have lost insurance, they have lost their jobs. We can do better." 
 
 The South Carolina congressman says the new plan focuses on taking big government out of the picture. He says he's been working with former Georgia 6th Congressional District Representative and current U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price in leading a physician’s study group into what plan would be best for the country. 
 
 "By having the ability of buying insurance across state lines, association health plans and by increasing the ability of health savings accounts, we would provide choice that Obamacare simply has not presented," the Congressman says. "And it wouldn't impact employment, it would give them more choice as well." 
 
 At one point, the crowd used Wilson's own words against him, the same words he used against President Obama during his State of the Union address. 
 
 “You lie, you lie,” the crowd chanted after addressing his stance on healthcare. 
 
 While he and other Republicans work for change, it may be a tough sell here at home. 
 
 The Congressman spent an hour addressing questions written by audience members before the meeting, but did not take any questions asked by members during the meeting itself. 
 
 He also spent time talking about his support for newly-nominated Supreme Court Justice Neil Gursuch, as well as endorsing President Trump's recent decision to send airstrikes against Syria in response to last week's chemical attacks.
– House Republican Whip Eric Cantor has attempted to preempt any members of his party tempted to pull a "Joe Wilson" during the president's State of the Union address. "I hope there are no outbursts tonight" Cantor said, but added that he hopes Obama has "listened and learned" that the American people do not agree with his agenda. As for Wilson himself, the South Carolina congressman said he would be "a gentleman" during the speech and refrain from anything along the lines of "You Lie!" again, reports Talking Points Memo. He also promised to offer his response in full afterward on his Facebook page.