After attending today’s election of the MCRC (Maricopa County Republican Committee) leadership, I was going to run home and write about the great speeches from David Schweikert, Tom Horne, Bill Montgomery, and Russell Pearce and others, and report the results of the election.
But after the speeches and midway into voting, Rob Haney, Chairman, announced that Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat, newly reelected to the House of Representatives, had been shot, along with several other people in a Safeway parking lot in Tucson. The noisy din of a thousand voices talking politics, some standing in long lines casting their first ballot, stopped in shock and bewilderment. There was a moment of silence, and then the prayers began. Another ballot was to be cast, and we stood in line some more, some of us checking iPods, others calling home for news. Another announcement was made, and this time it was reported that Rep. Giffords was dead. A pastor led the group in prayer. It was a sad, emotional reaction to a woman who was a political foe and yet none of that mattered. Many people there knew her and wept. For in this world of politics, even when he don’t agree, we cannot help but like each other.
In fact, we love each other. We’re Americans.
For the record:
Rob Haney was reelected Chairman
Diane Ortiz-Parsons is 1st Vice Chair
Janet Contreras is 2nd Vice Chair
David Ludwig is Treasurer
Pat Oldroyd is Secretary
The report of the wonderful speeches and all the rest can wait.
As of this writing, the news reports are that Gabrielle Giffords is still alive. Thank God. But a judge was killed. A young boy was killed. They and their families need our prayers.