On the recordJanuary 12, 2011
Gabrielle Giffords is a tremendous Member of this House--bright, caring, beautiful--and we all pray for her recovery and that she comes back and works with us. I listened to her remarks on television when she talked about words having consequences and her brother-in-law, who is up in space, saying the same thing. It's true. Words have consequences, and we all need to be more concerned about how we speak about political opponents or people who have different perspectives than we do on political issues. We are all Americans. We are all human beings. We all have similar goals and similar aspirations; and even though we may differ on philosophy, that doesn't make us communists or socialists or Birchers or whatever. We are all trying to make this government work. One thing that we know about the person who did this shooting, besides the fact that he needed mental health treatment and was obviously crazy, is that he didn't like government. Government is good, and one thing we should learn from this is that government can be and is a good force. It is a lot about what America is.…
