President Obama Speaks at Memorial Service in Tucson

Captain Mark E. Kelly holding wife Gabrielle Giffords hand.  President Obama said that Giffords opened her eyes for the first time.  Doctors say Giffords has a 101% chance of survival. 




The Tucson Memorial Service on Wednesday




The Arizona shooting victims.  All six were killed in the shooting.




Roxanna Green, Christina-Taylor Green's mother, at memorial service.


Video of President Obama addressing the memorial service


(USA Today January 13, 2011)  Yesterday evening President Obama addressed a memorial service for those killed and injured in the shooting spree on Saturday January 8, 2011.  The president urged Americans to "make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds."  He was calling for a civil discourse.  The president stated he visited Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat who was critically wounded by the assassination attempt, at the hospital.  He said that after his visit, "Gabby opened her eyes for the first time.  She knows we are here.  She knows that we love her.  And she knows we are rooting for her."  An overflow crowd at the University of Arizona's McKale Memorial Center, site of a community memorial service, erupted in cheers.  Michelle Obama hugged Gifford's husband.  The president and his wife flew here for a tribute to the victims of Saturday's shooting rampage that killed six people and left 13 wounded.  Giffords, whom authorities claim she was the target, survived a bullet through the left side of her brain.

The president and his wife flew for a tribute to the victims of Saturday's shooting rampage that killed six people and left 13 wounded.  In an address intended to comfort this grieving city as well as a stunned nation, Obama mentioned heroic actions of doctors and bystanders after the shooting, and spoke about the lives of each of the six killed, from U.S. District Judge John Roll to nine-year old Christina Taylor-Green, a Little League Baseball player and student council member.  She was born on September 11, 2001.  "Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing," Obama said.  He claims the violence has already stirred worthy discussions about preventing future tragedies, from gun safety to care for the mentally ill.  He also added a note about the political debate.  "At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized," he said, "at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do--it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds." 

Following the event, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, (D-FL), told CNN she was in Giffords' hospital room with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).  Wasserman Schultz claimed doctors couldn't believe it.  She said it was the most incredible experience that she ever had.  This morning, both Wasserman Schultz and Gillibrand spoke on Fox & Friends speaking of the improvement that Giffords has made in the last few days. 

The suspected shooter, Jared Loughner, 22, is in custody facing federal murder and assault charges.  There is more evidence about his troubled life through police reports.  There are details of a chaotic three hours before the shooting when Loughner argued with his father, fled into the desert on foot, was stopped for driving through a red light, shopped for ammunition and took a taxi to the suburban shopping center where Giffords was meeting with constituents. 

In the last several days starting with Pima County sheriff Clarence Dupnik, the national media is trying to blame Giffords' shooting on right-wing rhetoric and people such as Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, Rush Limbaugh, and the list continues.  The problem isn't conservative talk radio or "conservative" political opponents.  I doubt this shooting was even political.  There are some people that are psycho paths and they are bent on murdering people.  History is replete with those kinds of people.  We've had shootings of political figures long before conservative talk radio became prominent in America.  The Left wants to use this as an excuse to clamp down on free speech rights and silence the political opposition.  Loughner or anyone directly associated with this crime should be held responsible--not right-wing partisan rhetoric nor left-wing partisan rhetoric.