A Gentleman’s view.

In 2001, strongly holding the belief that there is no higher calling than serving my country, I went from selling tires in my Tucson family business to being a freshman representative in the Arizona state house and for 10 years I served in the Arizona legislature, in the United States Congress and after marrying Mark as a proud military spouse, always, I fought for what I thought was right. But never did I question the character of those with whom I disagreed. Never did I let pass an opportunity to join hands with someone just because he or she held different ideals. In public service, I found a venue for my pursuit of a stronger America, by ensuring the safety and security of all Americans, by producing clean energy here at home instead of importing oil from abroad and by honoring our brave men and women in uniform with the benefits that they earned. I found a way to care for others and in the past year I have found a value that is unbreakable even by the most vicious of attacks.

The tragic January 8 shooting in Tucson took the lives of six beautiful Americans and wounded 13 others, me included. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel grief for the lives lost and so many others torn apart. Christina Taylor Green, Dorothy Morris, John Roll, Phyllis Schneck and Gabe Zimmerman embodied the best of America. Each in their own way, they committed their lives to serving their families, community and country and they died performing a basic but important act of citizenship that’s at the heart of our greatness as a nation. They will always be remembered, always. They will be remembered always by their country and by their Congress. I don’t remember much from that terrible day but I have never forgotten that my constituents, my colleagues or the millions of Americans with whom I share great hopes for this nation. to all of them, thank you for your prayers, your cards, your well wishes and your support. And even as I have worked to regain my speech, thank you for your faith and my ability to be your voice. The only way I ever served my district in Congress was by giving 100%. this past year that’s what I have given to my recovery. Thank you for your patience.

From my first steps and first words after being shot to my current physical and speech therapy, I have given all of myself to being able to walk back onto the House floor this year to represent Arizona’s Eighth Congressional District. However, today I know that now is not the time. I have more work to do on my recovery before I can again serve in elected office. This past year my colleagues and staff have worked to make sure my constituents were represented in Congress but if I can’t return, my district deserves to elect a US Representative who can give 100% to the job now. For that reason, I have submitted the attached letter of resignation to Arizona governor (Jan Brewer). Amid all that was lost on January 8, there was also hope and faith. This past year it is what I have often clung to. Hope that our government can represent the best of a nation, not the worst. Faith that Americans working together in their communities and our Congress can succeed without qualification. Hope and faith that even as we are set back by tragedy or profound disagreement. In the end, we come together as Americans to set a course toward greatness. Every day I am working hard. I will recover and will return and we will work together again for Arizona and for all Americans.

Signed, sincerely, Gabrielle Giffords, member of Congress.

The Following is an excerpt from the Presidents speech; His Closing Argument:

One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names. Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn’t matter. Just like it didn’t matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates – a man who was George Bush’s defense secretary; and Hillary Clinton, a woman who ran against me for president.

All that mattered that day was the mission. No one thought about politics. No one thought about themselves. One of the young men involved in the raid later told me that he didn’t deserve credit for the mission. It only succeeded, he said, because every single member of that unit did their job — the pilot who landed the helicopter that spun out of control; the translator who kept others from entering the compound; the troops who separated the women and children from the fight; the SEALs who charged up the stairs. More than that, the mission only succeeded because every member of that unit trusted each other – because you can’t charge up those stairs, into darkness and danger, unless you know that there’s someone behind you, watching your back.

So it is with America. Each time I look at that flag, I’m reminded that our destiny is stitched together like those fifty stars and those thirteen stripes. No one built this country on their own. This Nation is great because we built it together. This Nation is great because we worked as a team. This Nation is great because we get each other’s backs. And if we hold fast to that truth, in this moment of trial, there is no challenge too great; no mission too hard. As long as we’re joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong.

:

I. DERISIVE, FACT-LESS HYPERBOLE:  Conservative disdain for Barack Obama is so emotionally charged and consistently devoid of facts or reasoning, that the Republicans must nominate a skilled demagogue like Gingrich who can rally the faithful without any concern for the intellectual integrity of his rhetorical prose.  No Republican candidate is more qualified to charismatically deliver emotionally charged babble than Gingrich.

Wife #2: Gingrich had an affair with Marianne Ginther while married to wife #1.

II. WORLD-CLASS BULLY: Grassroots Republicans love a bully who can offer no constructive new ideas about anything, but who can easily denigrate more sophisticated, more thoughtful, more tolerant people who dare to challenge the convoluted, selfish reasoning of conservative populism.   Mitt Romney may be a bit too emotionally stable to offer the kind of bombastic, condescending rhetoric about the “cultural elite” that gives tea-party Republicans the kind of patriotic orgasm that makes them sure they are the real Constitutionally-correct Americans.

III. NO TO ANY HEALTH-CARE REFORM: President Obama will undoubtedly have to defend health-care reform in the upcoming campaign. Romney is intimately familiar with the issues involved and has, in the past, promoted programs that require government policies and regulation. Not “kewl.”  Conservative Republicans believe with every fiber of their being that government involvement in the delivery of health-care would result in nightmarish scenarios reminiscent of communist life under Stalin; decent Americans will be sent away by death panels to die in Obama’s secret gulag. Please, don’t try to convince them otherwise even though the same people who subscribe to such fantasies will kill anyone who threatens to stop their monthly Social Security, Medicare or Veteran benefit checks. Newt will never disappoint the masses with anything less than the standard Republican bull about how the private sector will treat everyone fairly if the big, bad government just gets of the way.

Wife #3: The-Newt was schtupping his staff member, Callista Bisek, while married to wife #2.

IV. NEWT ISN’T AFRAID TO BE POLITICALLY INCORRECT:  While Newt Gingrich “may” not personally be a racist, he knows, all to well, how to subtly acknowledge those politically incorrect “facts” about Muslims, Latinos and people of color that in their heart of hearts, conservatives know are true! Isn’t it wonderful that one Republican has the courage to acknowledge the truth about “them.” 

V. NO ONE FEIGNS RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION BETTER: Social conservatives cannot back up most of their knee-jerk, holy roller clamor with facts. e.g. No where in the Old or New Testaments are there any definitive statements that say that life begins at conception or that falling in love with a members of the same gender is a sin. Like creative statisticians, prolific clergy have for centuries have been spinning religious propaganda to protect their power, jobs, institutions and the emotional equilibrium of simple people. In spite of all his posturing about having made peace with God over his countless affairs, failed marriages, deceitful verbiage and unethical back-room political shenanigans, New Gingrich is the quintessential, sanctimonious Christian hypocrite: “My cause is so holy, that I can do and say anything to insure my ultimate success!”

VI. AMERICANS NEED AN ENEMY TO HATE & ARM THEMSELVES AGAINST: Conservative Republicans tend to be provincial, xenophobic tribalists. Incendiary rhetoric about threats to America’s security come as easily to Newt Gingrich’s lips as lying to any of his wives does. And let’s be honest, except for the prospect of seeing naughty pictures of Ann Coulter dressed up as a dominatrix, is there anything that gets a down-home, grassroots conservative more excited than the prospect of a an enemy we need to arm ourselves against?

VII. GOVERNMENT IS THE ENEMY: President Obama has time and again made it clear that he is committed to embracing and nurturing an inclusive American society that is first in the world in education, high tech, manufacturing, health-care and social responsibility. Those Utopian “socialist” ideals are easy fodder for a professional agitator like Gingrich who incessantly promotes the lie that government cannot possibly be the catalyst for anything good. In fact, in keeping with GOP gospel, the-Newt will tell you with passion that government is the enemy of the American people. That said, he wants you to vote for him to  be the “enemy’s” CEO. If that makes any sense to you, you must be a Republican.

VIII. THE ULTIMATE HYPOCRITE:  Conservative Republicans want you to know that they are the party of common decency and family values. That said, they have an ever-growing list of “to hell with” causes:

• To hell with taxes
• To hell the environment
• To hell with government regulations
• To hell with workers rights
• To hell with expensive, unnecessary government expenditures like education
• To hell with immigrants, legal or not
• To hell with all Muslims
• To hell with all sexual deviants (LGBT people)
• To hell with thousands of other issues that make people think too hard

Now honestly, which Republican presidential candidate is more qualified to promote a thoughtless, cynical, selfish, anti-people, pro-corporate agenda than the man who had a secret affair with his high school geometry teacher until he graduated and then married her (he was 19, she 26); the man who shamelessly tried to impeach a President for sexual indiscretions while he was having an affair with a staff member in his office; a man who time and again has proven have less scruples than a Koch brothers lobbyist?

Newt Gingrich is THE commensurate Republican.  No one can represent the morals and ethical standards of the Grand Old Party better.