Obama visits Giffords, others in hospital

White House Responds to Concerns about Pep Rally Atmosphere at Arizona Memorial
Thursday, January 13, 2011 By Fred Lucas White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs talks to reporters about President Obama in Tucson last night where he gave a Speech to console the nation and honor the Victims of a shooting rampage that that killed six people and left 14 injured, at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Washington (CNSNews.com) - White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained Thursday the atmosphere at the previous nig...

President Obamas Extraordinary Speech at an Extraordinary Time
I think it would be hard to hear the President’s remarks and not be so grateful that such an incredible human being is our leader at a very challenging time in our nation’s history. After um, magically faith healing Rep. Giffords with his presence(?), he then spoke at the memorial service for the Victims of the Tucson tragedy. POTUS urged the nation to speak to each other in ways that heal, rather than wound. The most moving part of his Speech — besides telling us that Giffords...

He spoke like a President: Obama addresses a grieving Nation
On January 12, 2011 at a memorial service that was held at the University of Arizona’s McKale memorial center, President Barack Obama addressed a crowd of over 15,000 that came to pay tribute to 19 Americans whose lives were tragically altered by an apparent mad man.  Of the 19 that were shot that fateful Saturday morning, 6 were killed. The senseless violence that occurred in front of a Safeway Supermarket in Tucson, Arizona at the hands of a deranged gunman has since sparked a bitte...

Gabrielle Giffords continues recovery with support of family, friends and nation
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes yesterday in response to encouragement from her family and friends, shortly after a visit from President Barack Obama.  Surrounded by her husband Astronaut Mark Kelly, parents, Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), the Arizona Representative opened her eyes for the first time and acknowledged she could see those around her with a wave of her hand. President Obama thrilled a memorial service crowd last ...

Speaker Boehner skips Tucson memorial for RNC cocktail party
Stumble This! The new speaker of the House skipped a nationally televised memorial in Arizona honoring Victims of Saturday's shootings, opting instead to host a cocktail party Wednesday night. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) declined an offer to ride to Tucson on Air Force One with President Barack Obama and other lawmakers, Politico reported. A Democratic leadership aide told the newspaper it was "disrespectful" of the speaker to miss the memorial service in order to attend a partisan political ev...

President Obama Offers Healing: Gabrielle Giffords "Has Opened Her Eyes"
In remarks to a crowd of 14,000 at the University of Arizona, President Barack Obama announced, with authorization from Astronaut Mark Giffords, the husband of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, that following his visit to her in the Hospital where she lay attempting to recuperate from a point-blank gunshot wound to the head last Saturday that "Gabby has opened her eyes" for the first time since being shot, he delightedly repeated that "Gabby opened her eyes!" The address was over 30 mi...

Congresswomen describe seeing Giffords open eye
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' friends say it's nothing short of a miracle: Days after being shot in the head point-blank, the injured congresswoman opened an eye Wednesday for the first time. Two of her closest friends from Congress, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., were in Giffords' Tucson, Ariz., Hospital room at the time. Both had traveled to Arizona on Air Force One with President Barack Obama to attend a memorial service for the Victims of Saturday's sh...

A presidential moment
Last night in Tucson, the nation watched as President Obama took the stage at what had been billed as a “memorial service” for the Victims of the horrible murders of government officials and innocent bystanders only a few days earlier. Aside from scripture readings by members of Obama’s cabinet, the event seemed to bear a stronger resemblance to a political pep rally. For those expecting a somber and reflective memorial, the raucous cheering of the crowd was a painful distracti...

Obama calls Americans to a new era of civility
TUCSON, Ariz. -- President Barack Obama offered the nation's condolences Wednesday to the Victims of Tucson's shootings, calling on Americans to draw a lesson from the lives of the fallen and the actions of the heroes, and to usher in a new era of civility in their honor. The president directly confronted the political debate that erupted after the rampage, urging people of all beliefs not to use the tragedy to turn on one another. He did not cast blame on Republicans or Democrats, but asked pe...

President Obama: Our Hearts Are Broken
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama walk back to the Residence after joining White House staff on the South Lawn of the White House to observe a moment of silence for the Victims of the Arizona shootings. The president spoke in Arizona on Wednesday at the memorial service for the victims. The president’s talents as a communicator were in desperate need in Arizona, where he spoke Wednesday at the memorial for the Victims of the shooting in Tucson. THE PRESIDENT: Thank you....

Funeral held for Christina Green
Christina Green, 9, was born on Sept. 11, 2001, the day the trade center was destroyed in a Terrorist Attack. The flag, suspended between two fire trucks at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Tucson, was the largest one to survive. The service was private with no cameras inside the church, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Christina, recently elected to the Student council at her middle school, went to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' appearance at a Tucson shopping center with an adult friend because sh...

Black Bag Found In Desert Believed To Be Psycho Killers
Arizona Republic: The Pima County Sheriff’s Department says it has stopped its search for a black bag that may have been hidden by the suspect hours before Saturday’s Tucson-area Shooting Spree. An 18-year-old man was walking his dog and found when he stumbled upon a black bag Thursday morning. It’s not immediately clear whether it is the same one that Jared Loughner reportedly had with him the morning six people were killed and 13 others wounded, including Arizona Congresswo...

White House Mum on Palins Latest Words
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs gestures Thursday while discussing the president’s (lack of) response to Sarah Palin’s statement. If the president, or anyone in Obama’s close advisory circles, has an opinion about Sarah Palin’s latest rhetorical creation—her already infamous “blood Libel” zinger—the world will have to do without that information for the time being. During an exchange with the press Thursday, White House spokesman Robert G...

Don't Call Killer's Actions 'American,' Gibbs Tells Russian Reporter
There is nothing "American" about the "deranged actions of a madman" who would kill six people and shoot another 13 at a Tucson strip mall on a Saturday morning in January, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs sternly told a Russian reporter today at the White House. It's sometimes part of a White House Press Secretary's job to correct what he or she sees as the mistaken impressions of foreign reporters — and Gibbs did just that. You can listen and we'll put the transcript below: This featur...

Must we parse the meaning of the word 'open'?
MUST WE PARSE THE MEANING OF THE WORD 'OPEN'?.... To the delight of the audience at last night's memorial service, President Obama told attendees last night that he'd just come from Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' (D-Ariz.) bedside. "And I want to tell you -- her husband Mark is here and he allows me to share this with you -- right after we went to visit, a few minutes after we left her room and some of her colleagues in Congress were in the room, Gabby opened her eyes for the first time," the presid...

Gabrielle Giffords Opened Her Eyes
​In a Speech full of heart-wrenching moments last night, President Obama went off script to describe the condition of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head on Saturday in Arizona by Jared Loughner. "Gabby opened her eyes," announced the president. "So I can tell you, she knows we are here, she knows we love her, and she knows that we are rooting for her through what is undoubtedly going to be a difficult journey." The camera showed Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, embracing Mic...

Report: John Boehner Refused Air Force Ride To Tuscon, Hosts RNC Party Instead
Politico reports that newly elected Speaker of the House John Boehner declined an invitation to join President Obama on Air Force One to attend last night’s memorial in Tuscon, Arizona. Instead, Boehner was reportedly hosting a reception for RNC chair Candidate Maria Cino while other Washington dignitaries paid their respect for the heroes and Victims from the Arizona Shooting Tragedy of the last weekend. Writing for Politico, John Bresnahan reported yesterday: Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio...

Giffords Eye Opens As Pelosi, Dem Colleagues Look On (VIDEO)
ABOARD Air Force ONE — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' friends say it's nothing short of a miracle: Days after being shot in the head point-blank, the injured congresswoman opened an eye Wednesday for the first time. Two of her closest friends from Congress, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., were in Giffords' Tucson, Ariz., Hospital room at the time. Both had traveled to Arizona on Air Force One with President Barack Obama to attend a memorial service f...

Boehner Didnt Snub Tucson Memorial
Talking Points Memo reports: House Speaker John Boehner is catching a lot of flak for missing last night’s memorial service in Tucson, reportedly declining an Air Force One invitation from President Obama in order to slap backs and clink glasses at an RNC event. But a look at the timeline of events paints Boehner in a better light. Yesterday, House members attended a vigil for Victims of the Arizona Shooting Spree in an auditorium underneath the Capitol Visitor’s Center. As they t...

Psycho Killer: Im In A War With Pima College, They Are Torturing Students
Arizona Republic: Jared Loughner, suspected of the Mass Shooting near Tucson, said that he was in a war with Pima Community College and that Students there were being tortured. “This is my Genocide school,” Loughner said in a September YouTube video after he received only partial credit on a late assignment. “And I haven’t forgotten the teacher that gave me a B for Freedom of Speech.” The video was the last in an escalating series of incidents that left students, ...

Tucson Suspect's Ex Thinks Their Breakup Was Catalyst
In the aftermath of Saturday's deadly shooting in Tucson, Arizona, in which six were killed and 14 others wounded during an apparent Assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, police and media outlets have been scrambling to learn more about the accused shooter, Jared Lee Loughner. And if that means dragging his High School girlfriend into the burning hot eye of the media, then so be it. Kelsey Hawkes, 21, who dated Loughner when she was a High School freshman, has been making the round...

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz visits friend Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at Tucson hospital to witness `miracle''
WASHINGTON -- Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Gabrielle Giffords became fast friends when they first met. Both Jewish, both rising Democratic stars under 40 at the time, they gravitated to each other. So it wasn't a surprise that Wasserman Schultz joined President Barack Obama on his visit to the Tucson Hospital where Giffords is recovering. Shortly after the president left the room, with Wasserman Schultz at her side, Giffords opened her eyes for the first time since Saturday's shooting. Then s...

House Is Moving, Carefully, to Resume Work
Republicans are carefully trying to return the House to normal business, announcing on Thursday that lawmakers will next week consider the Health Care law Repeal that was pulled from the agenda after the weekend shooting rampage in Arizona. In a statement, Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the Majority Leader’s office, said, “It is important for Congress to get back to work, and to that end we will resume thoughtful consideration of the Health Care bill next week.” To pre-empt any suggestio

Gibbs, Russian reporter debate the meaning of freedom
Today's White House briefing ended with an interesting exchange that reminded some folks of the Cold War. Andrei Sitov, from Russia's official news agency ITAR-TASS, challenged Press Secretary Robert Gibbs by saying, basically, that the Arizona shooting resulted from too much American-style freedom. Gibbs said he couldn't disagree more. To be sure, Sitov expressed condolences to the Victims, but added that people from outside the United States saw the shooting as "the reverse side of freedom." ...

Cold War returns to White House for a day
Washington (CNN) - It was what Diplomats might call a "frank exchange of views" Thursday as White House spokesman Robert Gibbs got into a Cold War-style tiff with a Russian reporter about whether American freedoms go too far and may have led to the tragic shooting in Tucson. In one of the most surreal moments I have ever seen in nearly seven years covering the beat, Andrei Sitov of the Itar-Tass News Agency pressed Gibbs at his daily briefing about whether "the quote, unquote 'freedom' of a dera...