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Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Steps Down from Congress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nguu0TkCTd4


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Rep. Giffords to resign to focus on recovery

by Susan Davis
USA Today
Jan. 22, 2012

One year after a gunman tried to take her life, Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords sat before a camera and announced she would forgo re-election plans in order to focus on her ongoing recovery.

Giffords’ ability to deliver the message on her own is testament to a remarkable comeback following a year of rigorous treatment after a bullet tore through the left side of her brain, cutting short the political ambitions of one of the Democratic Party’s rising stars.

“A lot has happened over the past year. We cannot change that. But I know on the issues we fought for we can change things for the better,” Giffords, 41, said in a video [above] posted Sunday on YouTube in which she struck a positive tone against a backdrop of images of her life before and after the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting rampage at a Tucson event with constituents.

The shooting prompted a national debate about the coarsening of political discourse. In the wake of it, President Obama called on all Americans to engage in more thoughtful debate. “If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost,” Obama said in a Tucson speech eulogizing the six people who were killed. Thirteen people, including Giffords, were wounded. “Let’s make sure it’s not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle,” he said.

After the shooting, members of Congress ignored party lines and sat commingled at the annual State of the Union speech in a symbolic show of bipartisanship — a tradition that some lawmakers are seeking to make permanent. At least 100 lawmakers so far have pledged to have bipartisan seatmates at President Obama’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday. Giffords will attend as one of her last acts as a member of Congress.

The shooting, however, brought no lasting change to the Hill. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was asked last week about the bipartisan seating plans. “Yeah, and look what a great year it produced,” she quipped, adding: “I don’t think it’s silly, no … but I’d just like to see some follow-through.”

Today, Congress is facing historically low approval ratings and the latest CBS/New York Times Poll shows fully two-thirds of the country believes America is on the wrong track.

Still, Giffords’ message of centrism and unity was the focus of her retirement announcement. She will resign from office this week, triggering a June election for her 8th District seat, which takes in the southeastern part of the state.

“We can do so much more by working together. I don’t remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice,” she said in the video. Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, have become national figures, and Kelly has written a book, Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope.

Giffords told ABC in a November interview that she was not angry with Jared Loughner, who was charged in the attack on her “Congress on Your Corner” event.

Loughner, 23, remains in prison amid legal battles about whether he is competent to stand trial and whether he can be forcibly medicated to treat mental illness. Kelly has said they regretted that Loughner never received treatment prior to the attack. “If he would have received some treatment, this probably would not have happened,” he said.

In a symbolic act of closure, Giffords said she plans to complete the event that was cut short by Loughner by meeting privately with some constituents. She will also visit the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, which opened in September and was established by donations made in Giffords’ honor.

“I’m getting better,” Giffords said. “Every day, my spirit is high. I will return and we will work together for Arizona and this great country.”

Giffords did not say if she intends to seek political office again, but Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., one of Giffords’ closest friends, said she was “confident that she will return to public service.”

Obama also offered a positive assessment of Giffords’ future. ” I’m confident that we haven’t seen the last of this extraordinary American,” he said.

Copyright © 2010 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-news/2012/01/22/rep-giffords-to-resign-to-focus-on-recovery/ [no comments yet]


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