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Breaking: Gabrielle Giffords to resign from Congress
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will step down from Congress this week to focus on her recovery, her staff announced Sunday.
“I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week,” Giffords said in a video message.
Giffords, a third-generation Arizonan who served five years in the state Legislature before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2006, will not seek re-election this fall.
Giffords vowed to return public service.
Update: Here’s the video.
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I wish her well.
SC.Charlie on January 22, 2012 at 2:04 PM
It’s about time.
ButterflyDragon on January 22, 2012 at 2:04 PM
Everybody wishes her well. It is the right decision for the people she represents.
p40tiger on January 22, 2012 at 2:05 PM
I am honestly impressed.
hawkdriver on January 22, 2012 at 2:05 PM
Wise choice and shows more wisdom than most of her fellow members exhibit.
vityas on January 22, 2012 at 2:06 PM
That’s too bad, I was hoping she was well enough to continue. She has made miraculous strides in her recovery. I guess her husband will run for her seat.
Cindy Munford on January 22, 2012 at 2:06 PM
I think it’s best. Her recovery is indeed remarkable, but it is so hard to see a sitting Congress member struggling to sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.
All the best to her and her husband.
MayBee on January 22, 2012 at 2:07 PM
Godspeed and Good luck.
portlandon on January 22, 2012 at 2:08 PM
I hope we can get a solid progressive candidate in there now!
ElenaKagan on January 22, 2012 at 2:08 PM
Recover well, m’am.
Now, is it possible to flip that seat?
SouthernGent on January 22, 2012 at 2:08 PM
May she get well, and soon.
May her husband not run to replace her, for the decency of the entire land.
The exploitation of illness and death is always disgusting.
May the guy who harmed her go to hell, here or there.
May the lefties who exploited the entire situation join him.
May those who lied about the TEA party join them too.
Schadenfreude on January 22, 2012 at 2:09 PM
She is classy lady…I hope she leads a full and productive life…Godspeed.
d1carter on January 22, 2012 at 2:10 PM
Prayers ascending for her complete recovery…
OmahaConservative on January 22, 2012 at 2:12 PM
Yep, he has been campaigning for a few months now
burrata on January 22, 2012 at 2:13 PM
I wished her well, but do hope that we can get that seat in the Republican column.
SC.Charlie on January 22, 2012 at 2:15 PM
Bless her and may her recovery be as swift and complete as possible.
HotAirian on January 22, 2012 at 2:17 PM
Glad she is finally resigning. Should have happened months ago.
cptacek on January 22, 2012 at 2:18 PM
DARN Sarah Palin for making it easy to quit!!! I hate her !!
GoodBoy on January 22, 2012 at 2:19 PM
Good choice. She has more sense than some with intact brains. She’s lived life as a daring adventure, and trust she’ll continue doing so, learning, doing, and teaching new things.
Paul-Cincy on January 22, 2012 at 2:19 PM
She is a very graceful lady. I wish she had been well enough to continue her work as she seemed to serve according to her values and not party lines.
LawnGnomeFanFirst on January 22, 2012 at 2:20 PM
Well said.
DrMagnolias on January 22, 2012 at 2:21 PM
Really unnecessary comments, IMO.
LawnGnomeFanFirst on January 22, 2012 at 2:22 PM
Why? What is different today than 6 months ago? She wasn’t representing her state then and isn’t now.
cptacek on January 22, 2012 at 2:24 PM
You’re a peach.
YYZ on January 22, 2012 at 2:25 PM
I hope the congressoman recovers as fully as possible, of course, but I hope he loses. He continued in a roundabout way the “this is at least partly Palin’s fault” canard in that interview recently. It’s despicable.
ddrintn on January 22, 2012 at 2:25 PM
It’s not just about speech and learning to walk again. There are issues of short term memory lost, personality changes, lost of judgement, depression, etc. It’s great that she can walk and communicate somewhat, but she has immense challenges that will take years to address and may never be correctable.
Anybody know when the shooter is going to trial? Last I remember, he was suppose to be medicated so he could stand appear in court. I don’t think they have ruled whether he was sane at the time of the shootings. My guess is that he was not.
Blake on January 22, 2012 at 2:25 PM
Good for her.
Del Dolemonte on January 22, 2012 at 2:27 PM
Well we do have a guy in there who was talking about Guam tipping over or something, so it’s not that big a stretch.
ddrintn on January 22, 2012 at 2:29 PM
The comments may sound insensate and unnecessary, but you have to understand where they are coming from. The people of Rep. Giffords district have gone without representation for a year. Yes, I feel for what has happen to her. Yes, it wasn’t her fault. But, the truth of the matter is that she couldn’t represent the people. For that reason, no matter how insensitive it appears. She should have been removed from office and someone should have been appointed (or elected) to represent the people. She couldn’t do the job, the reason doesn’t really matter. Someone needed to step in long ago and correct this situation.
Tommy_G on January 22, 2012 at 2:31 PM
Yeah, the timing of this announcement proves it….just like an opportunistic vulture …
The only real question: Is he going to run for her seat, or is he going to gamble and go for the Senate seat?
Expect another “Breaking” announcement in 2 weeks.
Guaranteed!
BigSven on January 22, 2012 at 2:32 PM
Tucson will sink into the desert without her. Some guy from Guam told me.
abobo on January 22, 2012 at 2:32 PM
Schadenfreude
I agree that this is the best thing for her. Having worked for several years in rehabilitation for those with traumatic brain injuries, it was obvious to me that her ability to stay in Congress was very unlikely.
And you expect her husband to do the “decent” thing and not run for her seat? A demoncrat be “decent?”
After all, this is the guy wrote a book on the shootings to make some bucks and whined that Sarah Palin didn’t call him – he didn’t say why she should have, but the implication was there.
Also, in liberal-demo land, political seats stay in the family
“Never go against the Family.” – Don Vito Corleone
Horace on January 22, 2012 at 2:35 PM
Better late than never.
Still, in her present state Giffords probably has more mental acuity than half the members of Congress who aren’t willing to resign.
Bishop on January 22, 2012 at 2:36 PM
Oh, this…
That’s classy? No. That is political opportunism.
cptacek on January 22, 2012 at 2:36 PM
This is a class act from a courageous lady. It would have been wrong to resign prematurely, before testing her ability to recover well enough to resume her job.
However, if her classless husband (i.e. Palin blamer) is planning to exploit her situation to run for her office… Let’s just say I hope he fails.
Harbingeing on January 22, 2012 at 2:37 PM
A year too late.
Seven Seas on January 22, 2012 at 2:37 PM
Gabby is a woman of character. She could have rode the sympathy to a lifetime sinecure, but she chose what was better for her health and her state.
Good Solid B-Plus on January 22, 2012 at 2:43 PM
Obviously, she feels that serving is not something she is qualified or capable to do at this point. Six months ago she probably had hope that it would be possible.
LawnGnomeFanFirst on January 22, 2012 at 2:47 PM
She’s doing the right thing. That shooting left her unable to do her job.
Sekhmet on January 22, 2012 at 2:49 PM
Interesting. She could have simply not run, but continued to collect her salary. Wish her a full recovery.
rbj on January 22, 2012 at 2:50 PM
Classy decision by her to step down and I wish her nothing but the best in her recovery.
I don’t want to bring up politics too soon, but you can’t deny that her seat could now become one of the most contested in the country this year. It’s a lean R seat that we should be able to pick up. Whoever our nominee is will have to walk a fine line between running a competitive campaign while not appearing insensitive to the situation.
Nelsen on January 22, 2012 at 3:05 PM
From personal experience, I think you hit the nail on the head.
Night Owl on January 22, 2012 at 3:46 PM
So why the big show for her vote to increase the debt limit?
Mitoch55 on January 22, 2012 at 4:04 PM
People on here obviously don’t live in Gabby’s district. She never lives here, her husband is a giant jerk who lashed out a blamed the Tea Partiers for the shooting, and she is probably just dropping out so that her non-resident jerk husband can run for her seat. It is pathetic and not classy. Should have resigned the second she regained consciousness and allowed both parties to organize campaigns for District 8. As it is, if her husband runs, he will have a disproportionate sympathy cash advantage and lots of free media appearances as a speaker at one of the monthly memorial services/park dedications/fundraisers/walk-a-thons/etc.
andy85719 on January 22, 2012 at 4:07 PM