Gabby Giffords and Business as usal in Washington

Gabrielle Giffords should be dead.

On January 8, 2011, she was shot in the head at point blank range by Jared Lee Loughner, which is just something you do not survive.  Anybody.  She should have died.



Former Rep. Gabby Giffords with her close friend,
Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla.

Yet, thanks to a quick thinking intern and the grace of God, there she was 382 days later, in the chamber of the House of Representatives, resigning her seat in Congress.

Giffords’ re-appearance in the political arena during a particular ugly point in politics (where stories about open marriages and money from “Super PACs” are dominating news cycles daily) reminds us that it is time for this country to get its act together and start taking things seriously.

The attempted assassination of Giffords and the deaths of the six others in the Tucson shooting should have been that reminder.  Meaningful gun control laws, that didn’t specifically target rural Americans or infringe on the second Amendment should have been passed.

The newly elected Congress should have come together and decided enough was enough, and rally together not as partisan hacks but actually as members going to serve the best interests of their country.

 Yet, after the shooting, none of that happened.  Instead, we had hack political commentators practically knocking each other over in an effort to rush in front of a camera to blame the “Tea Party” movement and all Republicans and basically implying Loughner was acting on orders from Sarah Palin based on this ad.

Suspected Giffords gunman
Jared Lee Loughner

It only came out days later that Loughner was mentally unbalanced, had been suspended from community college because of mentally unbalanced behavior and was basically insane.  Not in some glorified way that you talk about a party in college, but was legally insane.  He was later found mentally incompetent to stand trial by a federal judge in May.

After an emotionally stirring memorial service led by President Obama (in one of his finest moments as president, only topped really by the speech that announced the death of Osama bin Laden), everything kind of just faded and within a few months, things were back to business as usual in Washington.

 A year later, things are no different.  Senate Republicans threaten to filibuster Democratic lunch orders, President Obama threatens a recess appointment any time more than two Republican senators leave the Senate chamber and House Speaker John Boehner still cries because well, John Boehner is a crier.

 Then there was Gabby.  In here final appearance on the House floor as the representative of Arizona’s eight congressional district, she was barely able to walk on her own, yet was standing so tall.  She did not say a single word, yet rendered hundreds speechless.

In her official letter of resignation to Boehner, which was read by her close friend Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla., she said something that all 537 elected members of the federal government need to remember, that there is “no higher calling than serving my country” and “amid all that was lost on Jan. 8, there was hope and faith. … Hope and faith that even as we are set back by tragedy or profound disagreement, in the end, we come together as Americans to set a course toward greatness.”

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has a
"spirited" chat with President Obama

Yet, some 2,300 miles away iin Giffords' home state, we had the sight of President Obama arguing with Gov. Jan Brewer, R-Ariz., with the governor sticking her finger in the president’s face and the president walking off in the middle of their discussion.

 Which makes me wonder, was anybody even listening?  Were the deaths of six people and the near death of a member of Congress all in vain?

Do they even care?

 Gabby Giffords walking this earth is a miracle and now that miracle needs to fix this broken system of government.  Because quite frankly, it doesn’t deserve people like Gabby Giffords and here’s hoping her and husband leave Washington, DC and never look back.