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‘Be Bold, Be Courageous’: Former Rep. Gabby Giffords Delivers Surprise Opening Statement at Senate Guns Hearing

Jan. 30, 2013 10:22am Madeleine Morgenstern

Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords prepares to give an opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing about gun control, seated with her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. (Getty Images)

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a gunshot wound to the head, made a surprise Senate hearing appearance Wednesday to urge lawmakers to act to prevent gun violence.

“Thank you for inviting me here today. This is an important conversation for our children, for our communities, for Democrats and Republicans,” Giffords said, speaking slowly and carefully, with husband Mark Kelly sitting beside her in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Giffords was severely wounded in a Jan. 2011 shooting spree that left six people during a congressional event in Tucson, Ariz. Her comments Wednesday were her most extensive public remarks since the shooting.

“Speaking is difficult but I need to say something important. Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something. It will be hard, but the time is now. You must act. Be bold, be courageous. Americans are counting on you. Thank you,” Giffords said.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

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Comments (172)

spfoam1
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:55am
The liberals have no problem exploiting Gumby. They try to shame and punish law abiding gun owners for the act of a deranged liberal.
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- civilwarcometh
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:07am
  They took my post down again on this thread. WTF blaze. The only good commie is a DEAD commie!!!!
  
  Report this comment
- OldSurfRat
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:18am
  Getting shot in the head does not make one an expert on guns.
  However having an armed individual may have kept one from getting shot in the head and a little girl may also still be alive.
  
  Report this comment
- Thundergod
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:21am
  @civilwarcometh
  The Blaze wont display my posts and they contained nothing that could be considered insensitive. Only facts about UK gun control and the agenda we see unfolding here in America.
  
  Report this comment
- SacredHonor1776
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:26am
  How was this a surprise? I knew she would be used once they started going down this path of gun control.
  
  Report this comment
- RANGER1965
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:29am
  @Surfrat
  
  Getting shot in the head makes you an expert…in getting shot in the head.
  
  If I survived getting shot in the head I would be armed to the teeth personally, and have armed security as well.
  
  Report this comment
- OldSurfRat
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:41am
  Ranger
  
  You got that right and God help anyone that even looked at me funny.
  
  Report this comment
- The_Jerk
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 12:36pm
  Giffords is another cultural changing, I want to rule your life, Jewish progressive, who will use and abuse any crisis in order to destroy your traditions. Ask her fellow Jewish progressive, Rahm Emanuel, who explained it so precisely.
  
  Report this comment
- muffythetuffy
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 12:57pm
  DID SHE REALLY KNOW WHERE SHE WAS?
  
  Surprise? I think not. The appearance was arranged weeks ago and rehearsed like Hillary’s. Did congress ever welcome and honor our injured and crippled US Army and US Marine veterans?
  
  Report this comment
- banjarmon
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 1:19pm
  ” The RIGHT of the PEOPLE to KEEP and BEAR ARMS, SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED!!!”
  WHAT part do they NOT UNDERSTAND????
  
  Report this comment
- Soulfire1975
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 1:33pm
  Oh they understand what it means not to infringe but it would be easier to infringe on it to take control of the American people and make it easier to take us to FEMA camps that beck doesn’t believe in even though I seen two of them for myself
  
  Report this comment
- naughtycal
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 1:35pm
  You think gabby would go after automobiles if laufer had rammed the crowd and her with an F350 and a snowplow on the front. Would she go after fertilizer he he made a bomd,or bottle makers if he made molotovs. We she go after stihl he he used a chainsaw. or Supersoakers if he made a flame thrower using ligher fluid. Fact that the world is dangerous should come to as no suprise to any with common sense. The liberal have the same thought process as the hivemind in I-Robot. Locking everyone up taking all their freedom choice will make them safe.
  
  Report this comment
- desertspeaks
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 1:40pm
  This is a dog and pony show, they’ll do anything and everything to avoid talking about what the real problem is..SSRI’s mind altering pharmaceutical lobotomizing prescription drugs!
  Most if not all the school shooters, inclusive of jared loughner the nutjob that shot giffords was on ssri’s as reported in court!
  Clarke’s filings in the 9th Circuit, March 2012, Loughner was on a drug regimen that included anti-psychotics, anti-anxiety drugs, antidepressants.
  FURTHER: as noted by medical journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Whitaker. ssri’s have an inherent and shocking risk of violence towards others.
  A review of FDA’s Adverse Event reports “identified 31 drugs responsible for most of the FDA case reports of violence toward others, with antidepressants near the top of that list.”
  Time magazine posted an article entitled “Top Ten Legal Drugs Linked to Violence” in which five of the top ten are SSRI antidepressants: fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), fluvoxamine (Luvox), venlafaxine (Effexor), and desvenlafaxine (Pristiq).
  BUT WE WILL OBFUSCATE AND IGNORE THIS EVIDENCE AND BLAME GUNS!!!!
  If you really knew that we just want to confiscate guns by PRESCRIBING people to take such DANGEROUS DRUGS, you wouldn’t let us even have the gun conversation!! You would laugh at us and then vote us out of office!!
  WE WILL TAKE YOUR GUNS BY ANY MEANS!!
  
  Report this comment
- Detroit paperboy
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 2:26pm
  She shoulda had a gun that day………
  
  Report this comment
- Detroit paperboy
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 2:28pm
  Yeah let’s disarm ourselves so we are at the mercy of the criminal welfare zombie class created by the DEMOCRATS ………..not me not ever.
  
  Report this comment
- CarolinaGirl
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 2:49pm
  And I think it’s wrong for the Giffords to exploit this gun debate also. A mentally ill, deranged man shot her down. Go to the source….mental illness. Never be afraid to report any mentally ill person who is capable of harming himself or others.
  
  Report this comment
- K Chad Roberts
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 3:38pm
  TheBlaze automatically rejects any posts with swear words, and a couple of other inflammatory words. I learned this early on, just proofread your post before submitting and you won’t have any problems.
  
  Report this comment
- mamatango
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 4:56pm
  This is a sham. This is the REAL reason for gun violence:
  
  http://ssristories.com/index.php?p=school
  
  Report this comment
- CathyvanDyke
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 4:59pm
  Gabby Gifford was not advocating disarming Armericans. Her husband clarified.
  
  Gabby Giffords’ Husband Mark Kelly: Guns Have Turned ‘Every Corner’ Of America Into Places Of ‘Carnage’
  January 30th, 2013
  
  Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ), a victim of a mass shooting in 2011, and her husband, Mark Kelly, testified before a Congressional panel on gun violence on Wednesday. Kelly told the assembled members of Congress that gun ownership is a responsibility that Americans have not taken seriously by safeguarding society with laws that curtail needless death. He said that modern weapons “have turned every single corner of our society into places of carnage and gross human loss.”
  
  “Gabby is a gun owner and I’m a gun owner,” Kelly told the Congressional panel. “We have our firearms for the same reason that millions of American just like us have guns: to defend ourselves, to defend our families, for hunting, and for target shooting.”
  
  Kelly said that he and his family believe in and support the Second Amendment. However, “rights demand responsibility,” he said.
  
  “This right does not extend to terrorists, it does not extend to criminals, and it does not extend to the mentally ill,” Kelly continued.
  
  http://www.mediaite.com/tv/gabby-giffords-husband-mark-kelly-guns-have-turned-every-corner-of-america-into-places-of-carnage/
  
  Report this comment
- CathyvanDyke
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 5:02pm
  Ronald Reagan – 40th President of the USA (1981-1989)
  “You won’t get gun control by disarming law-abiding citizens. There’s only one way to get real gun control: Disarm the thugs and the criminals, lock them up, and if you don’t actually throw away the key, at least lose it for a long time… It’s a nasty truth, but those who seek to inflict harm are not fazed by gun controllers I HAPPEN TO KNOW THIS FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.|”
  
  Report this comment
- CathyvanDyke
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 5:26pm
  I am probably most right wing conservative on this forum and … I agree with Mark Kelly. See my submission above.
  
  Along with rights … there comes responsibility. If Adam Lanzo’s mother’s weapons had been locked up as required by law … out of reach of her troubled son … the massacre that took the lives of 6 faculty and 20 children MAY never have happened. If the weapons owned by Nehemiah Griego parents had been locked up as required by law … out of reach of their troubled teenager … the massacre that took their lives and the lives of three of their children may never have happened. In other words …irresponsible gun owners should not be allowed to own weapons.
  
  Report this comment
- JRook
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 5:39pm
  @spfoam1 Showing a lot of class referring to a gun shot victim as Gumby. And what exactly is your reference for stating the shooter was a liberal? Particularly given he stated he planned on shooting the congresswoman. When you done arguing the ideological extremes recognize that there is no reason for every gun to be accounted for and registered throughout its life. There should be universal background checks and 100% registration of all guns. Gun owners should be held both criminally and civilly liable for any crimes committed by their guns, unless they report it stolen within 72 hours. No restrictions, no bans and therefor no reduction of 2nd. amendment rights. But as any conservative will tell you with rights comes responsibilities.
  
  Report this comment
- Mojoron
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 7:45pm
  This makes me sick using Gabby like this. I’m sure she feels what she says but she was an avid shooter before she got shot, in fact she supported gun rights. The desperate donkey’s are really digging in dirty mud.
  
  Report this comment
Johnny Cocheroo
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:54am
too bad somebody doesn’t break your fingers

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- yoshik
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 12:43pm
  Who should have their fingers broke?
  
  Report this comment
dmerwin
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:54am
Wrong thinking. Just destroy the argument and recognize what causes her to say that. I wonder if she will stand up and say that whack jobs should be locked up until they are deemed completely safe and the system (psychiatrists) held accountable for their release?

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Johnny Cocheroo
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:52am
Watched Hotel Rwanda the other night.

I wondered how things would’ve turned out if each house had an owner armed to the teeth inside. I can only wonder though because they weren’t armed and thus had to watch their family hacked/raped to death by machetes.

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- Sergetov
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 12:04pm
  Violence is the ultimate authority from which all other authority is derived. THose who are unwilling or incapable of using deadly force will be subject to those who CAN and Do.
  
  Report this comment
virgie morgan
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:51am
On second thought, I agree with her whole heartedly…there is too much violence, too many children being killed…be bold, be courageous, stand up for your second amendment right to protect the children from nut cases like Lanza and the government. It will be hard, but America is depending on you to protect our kids against tyranny!!!

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sjwolf
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:51am
You’ve sworn to uphold the Constitution (not selective parts), the courts have ruled that the police can not be held liable for failure to protect the citizens. “The People” have the Right to protect themselves, others facing great bodily harm, their property and the State. That said, support “Stand your ground and a strong Castle Doctrine”. The last thing a legal gun owner wants is to have to use a firearm for defense …

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oxycontinxx
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:51am
you know……….background checks, improved reporting of mentally unstable people to appropriate places, etc are all things that ought to be done.

the LAST action that should NOT BE undertaken is restrictions on firearms and ammunition. that infringes on the rights of american citizens and undeniably violates the 2nd amendment.

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MisterSarcastic
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:48am
If you’re talking about gun control Miss Gabby there not as many people as you might think ‘counting on them’.

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RANGER1965
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:48am
“Be bold and courageous, America is depending on you.” I give our law makers the same message.

Vote no to any measure that limits guns, or the 2nd ammendment. Do not let emotion rule you. Think critically, and look at the big picture.

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M40-A1
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:45am
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GLENN- HERE IS THE LIST YOU KEEP ASKING FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://gunrightsattorneys.com/attorneys/

SOMEONE PLEASE SEND THIS TO PAT OR STU.

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- Chuck7884
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:54am
  Which m-40-a1 is your name the one with the Redfield 3x9x10 or the Inertial 3x9x10? not being mean just curious.
  
  Report this comment
1SFG
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:44am
Sorry but your politicial views put you in this condition. The 2nd amendment didn’t cause you to be a brain damaged person. Tell your astro-nut husband to get a job and STFU!

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- toiletclogga
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:54am
  Where are all the black women who have lost children to gun violence? Why are they not testifying? Why does it take a mass shooting of white kids, and an attempted assassination of a white Congresswoman for Democrats to posture for gun control? Which party is the party of race? Remind me please! To all Democrats: It’s not about guns, or access to guns. It’s about a society that is desensitized to violence, and a culture where violence is the first option for some. It’s about a society that has turned away from faith which now bows before the government!
  
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- happ77
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 2:12pm
  toilet, they don’t care, they have an agenda plain &
  simple. They couldn’t wait to dance on the graves of
  those kids, it was their opurtunity to advance their
  cause. In the meantime “an honor student that performed
  at the inaguration was gunned down in a Chicgo park.
  A gun free zone.
  
  Report this comment
no1hd
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:44am
I hate she was shot. I hate she has the nerve to stand on the graves of the people killed to ask the constitution not be upheld.
These people have no morals or character.

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- katzkiner
  Posted on April 7, 2013 at 2:26pm
  What kind of idiot politician holds a meet an greet at a supermarket parking lot with no access control or metal detectors? I thought that went out the window with the JFK assassination. Can you say airhead security?
  
  Report this comment
momrules
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:41am
I wish I could depend on those in office, both R and D, to do the right thing but I don’t. Saying anything *is for the children* is actually code for it is going to happen. They will continue their march toward the elimination of gun ownership in America.

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- Chuck7884
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:50am
  You are correct!. “If it only saves one child.” which would be hard to prove or easy depending on what you believe.
  
  Report this comment
- drs1969
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 7:48pm
  There used to be a Dem, here, who used that line all the time. He was voted out.
  
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no1hd
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:41am
Now am I logged in – again.

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- Misha
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:52am
  I know, right! Log in to post a comment, but I am logged in already…..
  
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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:40am
.
Now her husband is making a fool of himself. Neither one told the truth, All U.S. Mass Shootings have been carried out by Democrats………..

Democrats Kill………..

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- Obama Snake Oil Co
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:47am
  And atheists as well…..I guess removing god from schools worked out really well now….
  
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smokey40
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:36am
The only thing I can say is would she be so against guns if what had happened to her didn’t?

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- naughtycal
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:41am
  She was pro second amendment before the shooting. I would ask her would she attack automobiles if laufner had ramed through the crowd and driven over her. because point blank in any crowded city an insane person with a car could kill dozens in seconds.
  
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virgie morgan
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:35am
Oh how convenient for her to exploit her tragedy to insure that more insane nuts like the guy who shot her will be unabated in having even more victims to shoot. She wants to save the poor children by disarming anyone who could possibly save them from a massacre. The police can’t save them if no crime has been committed yet and laws can’t save them because crazy nut job criminals don’t care about the laws. Only a law abiding armed citizen can prevent what happened at that school and even what happened to Gabby herself. I don’t understand why people say that taking guns away from “everyone” will make sure these things don’t happen. How many criminals have had their guns confiscated “before” they killed someone with it? How many criminals and nuts actually care about the law? But then, this really isn’t about “the children” or any other victims of shootings, this is ONLY about making sure Americans cannot protect themselves from the coming dictatorship and communist government take over.

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Cavallo
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:34am
She’s always been a fascist. Even before being shot. If they want to be bold then they would stop preventing me from exercising the right of buying a SAW or .45 Thompson without having to have a rectal exam by the feds.

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Just_Us2
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:34am
Want to take a serious bite out of gun violence as well as a host of other violent crimes? Focus more effort on a small and obvious segment of the population where most of the crime comes from. Remove these people and you will remove a tremendous amount of crime. There are Sandy Hooks x 10 happening every day but it’s not PC to talk about it. We have to punish white males to make the nation feel good, which will do ZERO to curb the violence.

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- naughtycal
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:46am
  Exactly, last years over 400 members of a certain segment of the population committed murders in Chicago alone now multiple that by the other citys around the country and you’ll see that guns aren’t the problem.
  If you eliminated the stats from that group America would be the safest country on the planet.
  
  Report this comment
- OhioRifleman
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:25am
  For they are 12% of the population, but commit over half the violent crimes on the records. Not a hard statistic to understand, they are committing literally four times their expected average of crimes and nobody gives a damn.
  
  Report this comment
- drs1969
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 8:02pm
  They (Jewish Progressive Dem’s) want to disarm whites so they can take over the country, just like Russia in 1917. They have full control of the black voters, and75% of the Hispanics.
  They are attacking whites from several angles at once. They’re trying to brainwash white children into qu**rness, in grade school, while at the same time they are planning ‘Death Panels’ in Obamacare. Now, if they could disarm us, look what kind of carnage their black ‘soldiers’ could create. This is white genocide, plain and simple. YT had better wake up fast. He may think twice when grandma is allowed to die, but what’s he going to do when a gang breaks into his house?
  
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- drs1969
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 8:13pm
  And don’t forget abortion. 56 million, vast majority white.
  
  Report this comment
- katzkiner
  Posted on April 7, 2013 at 5:02pm
  Watch it guys,.telling the truth will get you labeled the dreaded “R” word.
  
  Report this comment
Tri-ox
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:34am
Giffords is a clown and an exploiter.

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- katzkiner
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:07pm
  DSR the sheep are to indoctrinated by the “Gods Chosen People” routine. The question that needs to asked is, which god, and when did God chose atheists anyway? Bolsheviks give real Jews a very bad name. I support Israel and have many Jew friends ,none are communists, but, I hate communists and muslims. Sue me.
  
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- katzkiner
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 11:53pm
  You want to see what happens when you let the commies have your guns? Goggle.Soviet Purges, ex. Poland 1937 the NVDK misinterpreted one of Stalans orders loosely and ended up executing 101,000 Poles before they cleared the order up. Yeah! There were frequent mistakes like that. An unarmed man’s life has less value than livestock to a tyrant. The value of a man’s life is in direct proportion to the difficulty of killing that man. Tyrany 101
  
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term limits for congress
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:34am
The senate doesn’t need to do anything. barry will take care of it.

Couldn’t she have phoned in that crap? How much of China’s (or Ben’s) money was wasted on this photo op?

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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:32am
.
I just watched this Brain Dead Tool spit & slobber her way through a speech. Trotting out this woman is almost as bad as Crawling & Standing on the Dead Bloody Bodies of Babies so you can get what you want………….

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- Misha
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:55am
  OMG – I shouldn’t laugh, but….omg. Spit and slobber.
  
  I cannot stand when they parade the brain injured around for all to see to support their evil agendas.
  
  Report this comment
- Wyld_goose
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 4:28pm
  Sad part is that Gabby Giffords’ performance only seems to work on people that don’t have family or know people with real speech impediments. The difficulty isn’t a pause between each word said clearly but in a soft whisper. Note some of the complex words she uses and says very clearly with no mistake or, dare I say, with impediment.
  
  True speech impediments are with the actual words themselves. There are ample amounts of examples of speech impediments of people who have had strokes, head injuries from car/motorcycle accidents, gun shots and from birth located on the internet and youtube.
  
  Report this comment
Ironeagle
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:28am
Wtfo???

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Red Meat
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:25am
It’s a disgrace her husband is a US Astronaut. It’s a larger disgrace that this drooling imbecile is being exploited by the left.

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- txannie
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:35am
  It’s sadder still that she doesn’t seem to understand that she is being exploited. Or is it just more of the lib demo posturing and she really knows how to play the sympathy card? Sad either way.
  
  Report this comment
- EgoLacuna
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:38am
  Wow. You must not have a speck of grace in your heart.
  
  Report this comment
- drs1969
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 8:04pm
  It’s an Act.
  
  Report this comment
booger71
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:24am
Sorry Gibby, but America is counting on the Senate to follow the Bill of Rights

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- MDECKER
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:34am
  Agree! Our Congress and the President are just dying to open Pandora’s box. They truly believe they can control everything yet, they control nothing.
  
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- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
  Posted on January 30, 2013 at 10:49am
  If you had half a brain, you would follow Gabby Giffords advice….who also has half a brain.
  
  What I find funny is after enduring a shot to the head, brain surgery and losing mental capacity, she still spews the same rhetoric. It just goes to show, the Dems are speaking directly to the stupid people of America, and that is their base.
  
  Report this comment

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