U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will resign from Congress, she announced Sunday morning in a message posted to YouTube.
“I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona I will step down this week,” she said, speaking haltingly.
Giffords served five years in the House of Representatives.
……Giffords was shot in the head on Jan. 8, 2011, while holding a “Congress on Your Corner” meet-and-greet with constituents at a Northwest Side Safeway.
Six people were killed and 13, including Giffords, were wounded in the attack.
Those killed were Giffords’ aide Gabriel Zimmerman, 30; Christina-Taylor Green, 9; Dorothy Morris, 76; Judge John Roll, 63; Phyllis Schneck, 79; and Dorwin Stoddard, 76. The 13 wounded were Giffords, her District Director Ron Barber, Bill Badger, Kenneth Dorushka, James Fuller, Randy Gardner, Susan Hileman, George Morris, Mary Reed, Pamela Simon, Mavanell Stoddard, James Tucker and Kenneth Veeder.
Jared Lee Loughner, 22 at the time of the shooting, is charged with 49 counts in what federal authorities allege was an attempt to assassinate Giffords. Fourteen of those charges could result in the death penalty.
http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/012212_gabby_resign/giffords-resigning-from-congress/
From the comments:
Bret Linden
Jan 22, 2012, 12:19 pmWell, this is wonderful news, not only for the folks who live in CD8, but for Gabby as well.
Over the last year, I began to feel sorry for Gabby…I’m not only talking about her being shot, I’m talking about how so many people saw what happened to her as an opportunity rather than a tragedy, and did everything they could to exploit what happened that horrible day to build financial and/or political capital. Now that she is finally removing herself from that equation, the lowlives who tried to cash in on her injury and pain will have a slightly more difficult time doing so now that Gabby is not in office. These scumbags will have to pull the strings of a different puppet now.
The right thing for Gabby to do all along was to set aside politics and focus on herself and her recovery. Though it took WAY too long, I am pleased and actually happy for her that she is finally doing the right thing, both for herself and AZ CD8.
Because of her horrendous lack of understanding of capitalism and economic issues in general, I sincerely hope she never runs for office again. However, I do wish her well in her recovery.
I also wish for her assailant to be held accountable for his actions, and that right soon.
My thoughts exactly. The exploitation to which Mr. Linden referred, was the vile behavior of the DemLeft, blaming the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, and conservatives for Loughner’s violence. Recently, the head DNC moonbat, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, repeated the same crap.
In their haste, they convieniently overlooked the death of a 9 year old girl and a Republican judge. Gabby served as a tool for DemLeft demagogues, who pushed for everything from 2nd Amendment violations to censorship of opposing viewpoints.
Good luck, Gabby. I too, wish you well.