Amidst swirling controversy, David Wu attends state dinner at White House

Kari Chisholm

Less than 24 hours after the Oregonian's Janie Har and Charlie Pope reported on the exodus of key staff and consultants from Congressman David Wu's congressional office and campaign, he was one of just nine members of Congress invited to attend a state dinner at the White House. The state dinner was in honor of the visit of Hu Jintao, the president of China.

According to the New York Times, Wu was likely invited because he is American's first Chinese-American member of Congress - and because he's been an outspoken critic of China's human rights policies:

Some attendees were blithe about [getting a coveted invitation].

“I was born Chinese, I think,” said Representative David Wu, Democrat of Oregon, explaining why he got his invitation.

He said it “came in over the transom,” but he was not entirely surprised, given that he is the first Chinese-American ever elected to the House, and has been an advocate for human rights in China. Mr. Wu traveled to Oslo recently to attend the ceremony at which Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Chinese dissident, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in absentia.

Mr. Obama has been publicly pressing Mr. Hu over China’s human rights record, and the White House seemed to be using the guest list to reinforce that message. Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, was among the attendees. “I take the reason I was invited as a statement to President Hu,” Mr. Roth said.

The full guest list is at Willamette Week.

Meanwhile, on the jump, a smattering of the blog reaction to the Oregonian story...

Reactions from the left:

• Swing State Project:

Rep. David Wu has always struck people as a little odd (many of you probably remember his Klingons speech), but it seems like something has intensified lately, and it's starting to come out in the open. ... This is a D+8 district with a robust Dem bench, which is good because this may be a difficult story for Wu to shake, especially given general rumblings of discontent with him that have been building over time.

Reactions from the right:

• Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.com (who apparently attended Yale Law with Wu):

Actually, reading the story it sounds like he’s undergone some sort of personality change. Could that be true? Is he really just a shadow of the man that we once knew?

• Pajamas Media:

Clearly, the fiendish mind control experiments by the Klingons in the White House from 2001 to 2008 have finally had their way with Rep. David Wu (D-OR).

• NW Republican:

So now many of his staffers are leaving him because of his odd behavior and doing it with plenty of time for Democratics to find a new candidate for his Congressional district in 2012. You just know they are going to find a way to do it.

Apolitical reactions:

• Jim Fister, Structuring Chaos:

I have personally met Congressman Wu once. I was in DC on some technology meetings, and I was asked to go with a colleague to visit him to discuss some security technology initiatives with him. Given that he represents one of the most technical districts in the nation, he’s considered a technology expert. I can say I was impressed with his technology staff, and that he tried to understand our position. I can’t say that I left confident that he would actually represent the desires of his district.

I would hope that the Congressman is okay, and that his personal life works out in a way that doesn’t affect his professional job. I also hope that those of us in the 1st district figure out who’s representing us these days.

By Kari Chisholm Jan. 20, 2011