Source: U.S. House of Representatives
My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Congresswoman Giffords for her speedy recovery. The cowardly act of attacking an unarmed Congresswoman who was spending her Saturday meeting with constituents is all the more outrageous because she was by any reasonable measure not a partisan. What is even more ironic is that Giffords is a fiscal conservative, strong advocate for gun rights, and clean energy promoter.
The level of partisanship in this country is becoming more irrational than ever. Moderate Democrats like Congresswoman Giffords are the type of people we need for this country to solve its fiscal crisis. Let’s hope she comes out of this experience stronger and more resolved than ever.
Reflections of a Rational Republican 
I’m having a little trouble with your calling yourself a “rational” Republican. Your post reeks of the “irrational” partisonship you decry. You show no concern with the fact that this was a human being who was harmed, or that six other people were murdered. Your expressed concern seems to center only on whether this Congresswoman was or was not a partison, was a “fiscal conservative” or an “advocate of gun rights.” If she was defeated in an election, your comments might make sense, but in this case they are highly inappropriate.
Richard,
First, thank you for reading my blog.
Second, your assertion that I show no concern about the incident is simply wrong and strikes me as completely irrational. Didn’t you read the first sentence, or the title perhaps? My concern for Representative Giffords was the whole point of the post. I referred to her politics to demonstrate that she was the very example of someone who tried to stand above the fray and sought to work with both the right and the left, which makes this event even more of a tragedy. I don’t know what else to say. Your comment appears to be completely out of left field.
Third, I don’t understand your second point. Would the attack be any more or less reprehensible if Ms. Giffords had lost the election?
In case you missed it the first time, “My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Congresswoman Giffords for her speedy recovery.”
I consider your post on Congreewoman Giffords appropriate. No matter one’s politics we all have to admit the rhetoric of both sides is out of hand. Whether you deem the shootings the work of a madman or someone who is seriously deranged, the problem of outrageous language is still at the core of our national conversation. No one seems to be thinking before they speak, and if they are, and their negativism is calculated, they have missed the very definiton of debate and conversation. You have to have someone actually listening and conversing, not yelling and repeating the same things over and over, louder and louder!