POLITICO: Pelosi Was in the Room When Giffords Opened Her Eyes

Rep. Giffords Voted Against Pelosi for Minority Leader, But That Was so Last Week
On Saturday, as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was taking down the family Christmas Tree in San Francisco, she heard a news flash that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) had been shot in the head at an outdoor constituent meeting in Tuscon, Ariz. Seeking to distract herself as the horrific tale unfolded -- including early, erroneous reports that her colleague had died in the hail of bullets that claimed six lives and injured 14 -- Pelosi returned to dismantling the tree. Within minutes, she c...

Giffords Opens Her Eyes
Politico reports: TUCSON, Ariz. — Simple sentiments, spoken by family and some of her closest friends in Congress, inspired the “miracle” of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ open eyes Wednesday evening. Surrounded in her Hospital room by her husband, her parents, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Arizona Democrat lifted her lids for the first time since a would-be assassin fired a bullet into through her brain Saturday during

Husband on Giffords Eyes Opening: You Dont Understand, This Is Amazing
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi were in the room when Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes last night, less than a week after the tragic shooting that killed six and gravely wounded her. In the background of the commentary of this event, there has been this improbable success story, as Giffords’ condition continues to improve, beyond the expectations of even her doctors. Sen. Gillibrand told the story on Air Force One last night...

When Gabby Giffords Opened Her Eyes
Mark Gifford next to Gabby's Hospital bed. Photo: Courtesy of the office of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Here's the moving account from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, via Playbook: GILLIBRAND: “We were very excited that we were even going to have the chance of getting to visit her Hospital room. … And when we came in the room, the doctor was there, her parents were there, Mark is there, and the Speaker — Speaker Pelosi and De...

When Giffords opened her eyes
WHEN GIFFORDS OPENED HER EYES.... President Obama strayed from his prepared remarks last night to, oddly enough, make a little news about Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' (D-Ariz.) condition. "I have just come from the University Medical Center ... where our friend Gabby courageously fights to recover even as we speak," he said. "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 h...

Transcript: Two Lawmakers Describe Moment Gabrielle Giffords Opened Her Eyes
The following is a transcript provided by the White House of New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz described their visit to the Hospital to see Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on Wednesday for a tribute to the Victims of Saturday's shootings that was led by President Obama. They are speaking to reporters aboard the presidential jet. Q So tell us what it was like in there. You were just standing around a friend of yours and -- just put it in your terms. SENATOR GILLIB...

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...

Obama draws 31 million TV viewers for memorial tribute (Reuters)
Los Angeles (Reuters) – Some 31 million U.S. television viewers tuned in to see President Barack Obama lead a memorial tribute to Victims of the deadly shooting rampage in Tucson, Arizona, according to TV Ratings provider Nielsen. The emotionally charged Speech, in which Obama urged Americans not to politicize a tragedy that left six people dead and 13 others wounded, drew generally high marks for his bid to balance words of consolation with a call for national unity. The seven-network t...

Gillibrand to describe scene in Giffords hospital room
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., will be on NBC’s “Nightly News” tonight describing the scene in Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ Hospital room yesterday when the lawmaker opened her eyes for the first time since undergoing surgery for a gun shot to the head. Gillibrand and two other lawmakers — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., — were in Giffords’ Hospital room at the time. They were among a congression...

Major milestone: U.S. Rep. Giffords moves arms, legs
TUCSON, Ariz. -- U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is opening both eyes, moving both legs and arms and is responding to friends and family. Her doctors call it a "major milestone" in her recovery. "We're hoping that she crosses through many more," said her neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Lemole. Her remarkable recovery five days after being shot through the head has provided a much-needed dose of jubilation after a tragic week that left the nation in mourning. Giffords and 18 others were shot Saturday ...

Sen. Gillibrand On Giffords' Eye-Opening Moment
Like this Story? Share it: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) tells Katie Couric about the moment when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) opened her eyes for the first time since Saturday's shooting. (CBS) (CBS) Rep. Gabrielle Giffords remains in critical condition Thursday night but her doctors and colleagues are very pleased with the progress she's making. In his Speech in Tucson Wednesday, President Obama made the surprise announcement that Giffords, who was shot in the head Saturday at an eve...

John Boehner, youve got mail! New speaker releases his e-mail address to the public (Daily Caller)
Read more stories from The Daily Caller John Boehner, you've got mail! New speaker releases his e-mail address to the public Limbaugh vs. Krauthammer? Columnist calls radio talker 'odd and condescending' MSNBC's Chris Matthews is the left's version of a 'birther,' says Pat Buchanan Congressman's wife sentenced to jail for Tax Fraud Giffords making miraculous recovery, can move arms and legs Time to update your email contact list. Speaker of the House John Boehner has established a direct e-mai...

Last Call
...I think this is an interesting way to look at the state of American politics. You have an angry subset of Republicans who feel unfairly maligned by a society that's changing in ways they don't fully buy into. It's a strain in American political life that's always been around and perhaps it's because of the nature of America itself --- it's been a dynamic culture from the beginning with lots of immigrants and second chances and social mobility. And there have been sweeping social changes in th...

Arizona shooting survivors may face emotional trauma
TUCSON — Bill Badger, a retired Army colonel, had a flashback of dead and injured people on the ground a day after he was shot along with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 17 others Saturday. Giffords aide Pam Simon, who was shot twice while lining up people to meet her boss, is afraid to close her eyes because she sees scenes of carnage. Susan Hileman, wounded while Holding Hands with her now-dead 9-year-old neighbor, can't help blaming herself for bringing the child there. Doctors say the physi...

Congresswomen describe seeing Giffords open eye
(01-13) 14:07 PST ABOARD Air Force ONE, CA (AP) -- 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 atten...

Giffords sitting up in bed, can move all limbs...
TUCSON, Ariz. — U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has passed a "major milestone" on her recovery from a gunshot wound to the head, doctors said Thursday. The Arizona congresswoman has been sitting up, dangling her legs on the edge of the Hospital bed and moving her limbs in response to commands. That's after she spontaneously opened her eyes during visits with her colleagues Wednesday night. She is able to lift both of her legs On Command and is yawning and starting to rub her eyes, docto...

Giffords and the Women Who Run.
One thing that stands out in Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's (D-Fla.) account of their Hospital visit to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords yesterday -- Giffords managed to open her eyes and squeeze their hands -- is their description of the friendship the three share: REPRESENTATIVE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I think I told you the other day, I mean, there's very few of us -- SENATOR GILLIBRAND: Young women. REPRESENTATIVE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: -- young women who -- so we natural...

Giffords opens eyes, but conservatives accuse Obama of lying
By Michael J.W. Stickings Media Matters: In one of the most cynical displays in recent memory, following the lead of Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft, several conservative websites -- including Fox Nation and MRC arm CNS News -- suggested that President Obama lied last night when he said that Rep. Giffords had opened her eyes for the first time shortly after his Wednesday night visit to the Hospital. In a recently-completed pres...

Obama Out-Scoops Politico On Giffords-Opening-Her-Eyes News
Barack Obama’s Speech last night may have seemed like a way to “memorialize the Victims” or “call for a new way for us all to treat each other” or “lead the country like a president does,” but really, of course, it was a way to deliver his huge, #1, “MUST CREDIT OBAMA!!!!” scoop: Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes yesterday for the first time in the Hospital. Hooray! But also: We hope somebody got fired at Politico for this, because they were...

A 9-year-old's death hits home for Obama
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is not known for showing a surplus of emotion in public, but toward the end of his Speech at the University of Arizona on Wednesday night, he paused for 50 seconds and appeared to gather himself. The audience was on its feet. Obama had just laid down a stark and powerful gauntlet, challenging the country to live up to the expectations of 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, whose death Saturday was an emotional punch to the gut for so many people across the co...

Eye Opening: Local Congresswoman Witnessed Giffords' "Miracle"
Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Gabrielle Giffords spent an unforgettable Vacation last summer together in New Hampshire with their family and other friends. So it was natural the good times were what Wasserman Schultz turned to as she watched her friend laying in a Hospital bed, still reeling from the effects of a gunshot wound to the head. "Gabby, you've got to get back on your feet because we're expecting you back in New Hampshire," Wasserman Schultz said to Giffords. And with those wo...

Gillibrand Recounts Giffords 'Miracle' Awakening (updated)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand witnessed the "miracle" awakening of bullet-injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- and may have helped it happen -- she and Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz told reporters returning from President Obama's Speech in Tucson. Both Democratic women became friends with the wounded Arizonan before she was elected to the House, and flew on Air Force 1 to see her in her Hospital room before Obama spoke yesterday. And there the already emotional moment turned to a s...

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...

Boehner Skips AZ Memorial to do RNC Politicking
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi were in Rep. Gabrielle Gifford's Hospital room when she opened her eyes. The entire Arizona delegation, including (Read more...) ...

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...