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Retired Rear Admiral George Worthington, former commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command, told The Daily Caller that there are many people more worthy of a ship bearing their name. “Here is the issue. There are a lot of dead Marines out there whose names could go on anything that appears to be an amphibious ship,” he said, explaining that a past recipient of the Medal of Honor, Dakota Meyer, might be a good candidate. Worthington added his email “inbox” has been filled with messages from military friends who are “shocked and angered” by the decision. “We think fallen Marines...

The Secretary of the Navy announced on Friday that a new littoral combat ship will be named after former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). The announcement comes the same day that President Obama signed the last piece of legislation sponsored by Giffords, a bill aimed at reducing drug trafficking along the American borders with Canada and Mexico. Giffords, who recently stepped down from office, was the target of a shooting rampage in early January 2011. “The name this ship bears and the story represented by that name will inspire all those who come in contact with her,” said Navy Secretary Ray...

Ron Barber, an aide to former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), will run for the House seat she just left. Barber, 66, was Giffords’ district director until she retired last month. He was shot twice, once in the face and once in the leg, in the massacre that left six dead and nearly killed his boss. “Our community needs someone who will put politics aside and solve problems for the people of Southern Arizona,” he said in a statement. “My commitment is to be honest with the people of this district and help restore civility to our public life.” The special...

President Obama is eyeing Arizona as one of the few Republican states he might flip in November, but to do that he might need the help of its brightest star: former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D). Whether Giffords will lend her considerable clout to the president’s reelection campaign remains an open — and exceedingly delicate — question.

All we need to know to know that tax reform will be a prominent part of the president’s speech tonight is that Warren Buffett’s secretary, Debbie Bosanek, will be in a box with the First Lady. Bosanek says she couldn’t sleep last night because she’s so excited — even though she knows she’ll have to wake up in time for a dawn flight tomorrow morning to be sure to report to work on time. Bosanek isn’t the only interesting guest on the list, though. The First Lady has also extended invitations to: Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs; outgoing Rep. Gabby Giffords’...

IT TOOK A MATTER of seconds during a gathering with constituents at a Tucson shopping center for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s (D-Ariz.) life to be profoundly transformed. Ms. Giffords was one of 19 people wounded or killed there last year, allegedly by a deranged young man who inflicted unspeakable damage with the help of a semi-automatic weapon and an extended magazine clip. The bullet that pierced Ms. Giffords’s head left her clinging to life; hers has been a remarkable rehabilitation over the past 12 months, during which she has learned to walk and speak again. * Ms. Giffords did not refer...

WASHINGTON -- Brady Campaign Acting President Dennis Henigan today issued the following statement in response to U. S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ announcement that she would resign her seat in Congress this week. "We understand but are deeply saddened by the news that Rep. Giffords has decided to resign her seat in Congress because of the demands of her continued rehabilitation from the gunshot wound she suffered a year ago in Tucson. Congress and the American people now have lost the service of another devoted public servant because of gun violence. It is sadly reminiscent of the nation's loss of Jim...

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will step down from Congress this week to focus on her recovery, her staff announced Sunday. "I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week," Giffords said in a video message. Giffords, a third-generation Arizonan who served five years in the state Legislature before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2006, will not seek re-election this fall. Giffords vowed to return public service. "I will return and we will work together for Arizona and this great country," she...

Once again Liberal Democrats are trying to blame some of the violence that is going on in our nation on the Tea Party movement. Democrat Party Chairperson Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is the latest example. She “has refreshed the false and disgraceful meme that the Tea Party is at fault for the tragic Tucson shooting in 2011 that resulted in the death of six people,” The Washington Times reports. When Jimmy Hoffa Jr. said “Let’s take these son-of-a-bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong,” a reference to the Tea Party, she didn’t offer one word of protest....

Politics: The DNC's chairwoman, a champion of Occupy Wall Street, once again associates the tragedy in Tucson with an end to civil discourse caused by the grass-roots Tea Party movement. Has she no shame? There she goes again. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla, head of the Democratic National Committee and the "Debbie Downer" of American politics, has repeated the canard that somehow the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., a year ago at a Tucson event is somehow linked to hatred spawned by the Tea Party. "We need to make sure that we tone things down, particularly in light of...

Tea Party and Republican leaders are blasting the Democratic Party chief after she invoked the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords while scolding the Tea Party for its "lack of civility."

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., speaking in New Hampshire this morning, reminded her audience of the tragic Tucson shooting last year -- and also insinuated that the Tea Party, which she said regards political opponents as "the enemy," has enhanced divisiveness in Congress and had something to do with the shooting, at least indirectly. "We need to make sure that we tone things down, particularly in light of the Tucson tragedy from a year ago, where my very good friend, Gabby Giffords -- who is doing really well, by the way, -- [was shot]," Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee...

An elderly, former Marine who lost his wife of 54 years in the Tucson mass shootings expressed his anger at fellow victim and Congresswoman Gabbie Giffords. George Morris, 77, was shot in the leg and back in the attack just over a year ago as he tried to protect his wife from the gunman. Dorothy Morris, 76, was killed after the couple had gone to the Safeway supermarket to quiz Ms Giffords' political opinions. Mr Morris, who describes himself as 'ultra-conservative', even refused a visit from President Obama while he recovered in hospital following the shootings in Arizona. The couple...

Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head last Jan. 8, but the White House is downplaying the likelihood of any White House campaign-trail effort to restrict gun ownership. “I don’t have anything new for you,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday when asked about the anniversary. “It’s a solemn occasion. … It’s a remarkable recovery that Congresswoman Giffords has made, but we can never forget the lives lost on that day,” he added. President Barack Obama’s poll ratings are low, especially in swing-states, and he’s shown no willingness to publicly challenge or antagonize gun-owners or other critical...

President Obama reached out to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) by telephone on the one-year anniversary of the Tucson shooting that severely wounded the Arizona congresswoman and left six people dead. According to a White House statement, the president told the Arizona Democrat that "he and the First Lady keep her, the families of the fallen, and the whole Tucson community in their daily thoughts and prayers and, along with the entire nation, continue to join her in mourning those lost."

On January 8 2011, a criminal named Jared Loughner opened fire on a crowd outside a Safeway grocery store in Tucson, Arizona. As a result, six people were killed and many others injured: among them, U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). What happened that day was a crime and a tragedy. And while it reminded sensible, salt-of-the-earth Americans of the need to arm ourselves to protect our families from criminals like Loughner, it has taught the left nothing. This is demonstrated by the fact that they have spent the months since January calling for more gun control while also doing their...

CNN host Piers Morgan spoke with Gabrielle Giffords‘s husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, on Wednesday and discussed Sarah Palin‘s controversial crosshair map, which targeted the Congresswoman’s district. Kelly wrote in a new book that the former Alaska governor never reached out to them. “We were never contacted by her,” Kelly said. “I find that extraordinary,” Morgan exclaimed. “Yeah, I was surprised too,” Kelly replied. “You know, certainly the targets that she put over Gabby’s and other people’s districts, in our opinion, was not the right thing to do. She is not the first person to do that. And it hasn’t always...

I have great respect for retired Navy Captain Mark Kelly’s service to this nation. I also admire the courage of Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. See Thursday’s post, “God bless you, Gabrielle Giffords.” But I find Captain Kelly’s tactics for selling his new book to be insulting , misleading and plain out wrong. More than that it is disturbingly dishonorable. From the London Daily Mail: But it was the lack of any contact from former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin that was ‘surprising’ said Mr Kelly. Citing the book, Mr Morgan said that it revealed some ‘interesting insights’ into ‘political colleagues and...

I have great respect for retired Navy Captain Mike Kelly’s service to this nation. I also admire the courage of Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. See Thursday’s post, “God bless you, Gabrielle Giffords.” But I find Captain Kelly’s tactics for selling his new book to be insulting , misleading and plain out wrong. More than that it is disturbingly dishonorable. From the London Daily Mail: But it was the lack of any contact from former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin that was ‘surprising’ said Mr Kelly. Citing the book, Mr Morgan said that it revealed some ‘interesting insights’ into ‘political colleagues and...

(Reuters) - Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords served a Thanksgiving meal on Thursday to Air Force personnel in her first constituent event since she was shot in the head in January, her office said. Giffords dished out turkey with tongs as she stood between Brigadier General Jon Norman and her husband Mark Kelly, said Giffords' spokesman Mark Kimble. The event at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was expected to draw more than 400 people, mostly U.S. Air Force personnel, retired service members and their families. Giffords was shot on January 8 at an event for constituents at a Tucson supermarket. College dropout Jared...