While I was out riding my bicycle this morning, someone shot our congresswoman, Representative Gabrielle Giffords, at an open meeting in northwest Tucson. As I post this, news reports differ on whether she was killed or is still alive at a local hospital. She is, I suspect, dead; reports are that the gunman shot her in the head at close range. Apparently the gunman killed and wounded several others.
My first thought was for our friend Pam, who works for the congresswoman. Other friends tell me Pam was out of town and is okay, and of course that’s a huge relief.
My second, third, and fourth thoughts were black ones, and involved hate radio, Fox News, Arizona’s ridiculously-permissive gun laws, a failed senate candidate from a neighboring state who ran on a platform that included “Second Amendment remedies,” and the mainstream media that refuses to call right wing terrorism by its name.
I have two things to say about Gabby (and I sincerely hope my use of the present tense is justified):
One, she answers mail from her constituents. She supported me early last year, after I wrote to the USAF chief of staff to ask that Rush Limbaugh be taken off Armed Forces Radio overseas. No one responded to my request, so I turned to Gabby, and she sent a letter on my behalf to General Schwartz. I will note here that I also turned to my two senators, McCain and Kyl, and that neither one of them responded, not even so much as acknowledging my letters.
Two, she is accessible to her constituents — not just in terms of responding to letters, but in terms of holding open meetings like the one today, or dropping into local coffee shops like a normal person, and being willing to talk with anyone who approaches her.
God damn it.
Update (later, same day): Not that I think anyone comes here for news updates, but I’m relieved to say the early reports were wrong. Rep. Giffords was airlifted to a local hospital and operated on. The surgeon, at a press conference, said she was responding to commands prior to surgery. Right now she’s holding on. No one yet knows what the short- or long-term damage might be, but she’s alive.
Should Gabby recover and resume her duties in Congress, I expect she’ll change her policy on being physically accessible to constituents. So will most other politicians. That is a sad and sorry thing.
I don’t know about you, but I’m through being lectured on democracy and the Constitution by small-brainers who only support democracy and the Constitution when things are going their way.
Another update (later, same day): I’m posting these two images here because the people who originally put them up are frantically deleting them:
