The SoapBoxers

Last night was supposed to be all about the House voting on the bill to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.  A compromise had been reached, and the Republican House and the Democratic Senate were poised to pass a bill and send it to the President for his quick signature.  Crisis averted, economy back on track, cue the chorus of Hallelujah.  The United State of America could once again return to what we do best – spending money!

Suddenly, in a moment, the political wrangling had been shoved to the side.  The politicians put their ideological differences aside and welcomed back one of their own.  Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona), still in recovery from a January assassination attempt, entered the chamber and cast her vote.

It’s worth noting that Giffords, a Democrat, did not return on Friday to help her party defeat the Boehner.v3 bill – which squeaked through with a 218-210 vote.  Instead, she returned to support a bipartisan effort last night.  In truth, her vote wasn’t necessary to secure passage of the bill, as it sailed through by a 269-161 margin.  There’s much to be learned from Giffords’ actions – it is a time to work together, rather than being quite so adversarial.

What does the future hold for congresswoman Giffords?  I hope this is a sign that she will be able to resume her full duties before long.  One of many unfortunate effects of Jared Loughner’s rampage is that her constituents have been without representation in congress.  (A sidebar – perhaps we need to prevent this situation from occurring in the future?  Allow a temporary replacement to be appointed in situations where a legislator is temporarily incapacitated.)

Will she run for re-election in 2012?  I think House Democratic leaders will strongly urge her to do so.  If there was ever a candidate who was a slam-dunk for re-election, it’s Giffords.  Short of a major scandal (along the lines of embezzlement), I’m not sure she can lose.  Her opponents may point out ideological differences, but will this be enough to outweigh public sentiment in her favor?

The fact of the matter is that it’s quite easy to paint Giffords as a martyr for democracy.  She wasn’t shot as she was lounging around the pool or eating filet mignon at an upscale restaurant.  She was shot in the line of duty.  Not even at some mundane committee meeting in a far away building in D.C. – but at an event (Congress on Your Corner) where she was actively soliciting feedback from her constituents.  It wouldn’t take a spin master to turn this to her great advantage.

Is it wrong to play on the sympathy of the public for political gain?  Of course not.  This is politics, where you push every advantage and the game is no holds barred.

(Let us not forget the six people that died in the January shooting – Christina-Taylor Green, Dorothy Morris, Judge Roll, Phyllis Schneck, Dorwan Stoddard, and Giffords staffer Gabe Zimmerman.)

I like many others of both sides of the political spectrum are saddened by the events Saturday in Tucson, AZ, where thirteen people were wounded and six were killed at a political event for Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. While I do truly believe their sentiment at the results of this incident, the deaths of Gabe Zimmerman, John Roll, Dorthy Murray, Dorwin Stoddard, Phyllis Scheck and nine year old Christina Greene are clearly blood on the hands of the the political atmosphere created by the teabaggers, nurtured and encouraged by the Republican Party, publicized on its own “news” network and carried out by nutcases like 22 year old Jared Loughner.

Sarah Palin didn’t pull the trigger but she did put Giffords in her cross hairs as a target that her supporters needed to take out. (WINK)

Jesse Kelly, Giffords opponent in this past election didn’t pull the trigger. However he did have his supporters taking aim and shooting at pictures of her to help them practice taking her out. Kelly said Saturday that you can’t make any possible connection between the two things. Nope can’t find any connection at all between you wanting people to practice shooting at the Congresswoman to take her out and someone shooting her not in practice. Nah, no way at all. Give me a break. 

Is this the kind of Second Amendment remedy you were looking for Sharon Angle? The tea party candidate did lose the election to Giffords after all.

Isn’t a little revolution every now and then a good thing and we need to fight to take our country back. Michelle Bachman, that is what you wanted right?

The examples of the incitement and nurturing of the rhetoric by the politicians on the right as well as their supporters, that would lead to this are endless. Outside of her opponent literally having people practice shooting at her, the examples I give here are pretty anecdotal. They do prove a point though, hatred breeds violence and your followers will practice what you preach so you might want to tone it down a notch. This was stated by many over and over again during this past election cycle. To bad it took an event like this happening for the right to finally wake up and realize that maybe they might just be a smart idea.

Guess it seems to be working, Republicans have suspended the vote on their pointless vote on repealing that Job Killing Healthcare (that those evil, socialist, want to kill your grandma, gonna take your guns and religion Democrats brought upon you) Bill, that just the day before was too important to allow for any debate or amendments to. Guess its better late than never to decide to return sanity to the party.