Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

So many bastards, so little time.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Tick tock motherfuckers!

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

No Justins, No Peace

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2012 / Gabrielle Giffords Stepping Down

Reader Interactions

41Comments

  1. 1.

    Yutsano

    Her husband? Someone mentioned that below. IIRC he did just retire from NASA after his last mission.

  4. 4.

    Yutsano

    @Amir Khalid:

    is he still serving in the military

    It’s my understanding that retiring from NASA as an astronaut also means you put in for your military retirement as well. They could be doing this for insurance reasons as well: she’s eligible for the military retirement health benefits of her husband.

  5. 5.

    Keith G

    One of her staffers is a very with-it and appealing young man. Maybe him.

    Fucking Sarah Palin got her way

    What?

    I am glad she is taking the time to heal. Her family has served this land more than enough. During a recent set of stories about the couple, I got the impression that children were an important goal. I hope they can fulfill their dreams.

  6. 6.

    Calouste

    @Yutsano:

    Do you realize how fucked up that sounds?

    A congresswoman steps down from her job so she qualifies for her husband’s health benefits. Tells you everything about the state of US health insurance.

    Although she made it past 5 years in Congress, so I thinks she qualifies for congressional benefits for life.

  7. 7.

    Roger Moore

    @Yutsano:

    They could be doing this for insurance reasons as well: she’s eligible for the military retirement health benefits of her husband.

    Doesn’t she get some really great health coverage as a retired congresscritter?

  8. 8.

    maryQ

    He lives in Houston. Of course, it would probably not be an issue for him to get AZ residency, given his marriage. But as a former Houstonian, it would also be kind of cool to see him replace that waste of carbon known as John Culberson.

  9. 9.

    Smiling Mortician

    I get that speculating about how to fill her seat is practical and even interesting, but right at this moment I’m pretty focused on how she carried herself in that video. Jesus, what a class act she is.

  10. 10.

    Yutsano

    @Calouste:

    A congresswoman steps down from her job so she qualifies for her husband’s health benefits

    To be fair, she already did with him being an active duty serviceman. But Tricare seems to be more flexible for retirees than active duty personnel. This is totally anecdotal mind you, my mom is covered under my dad’s job and Tricare is the secondary payer.

  11. 11.

    Benjamin Franklin

    I’ve been expecting this. Although it is inspirational to see her in public, she has lost a great deal of capability from her horrific wound She is fortunate to be
    progressing as well as she is, and it is a tremendous loss for us. I hope her personal life continues to be full and rewarding.

  12. 12.

    BruceJ

    We have some state reps who will make a go of it: Matt Heinz, a former state rep (and a pracicing doctor, and an all-around good guy) is the first one that pops into mind. Some folks are pushing Rodney Glassman, but he has the undeniable stench of lose on him after his horrible, HORRIBLE run at McCain in 2010.

    The state senator from that district , Paula Aboud is term limited and is a decent candidate, whe was already making noises about running for the open seat if Gabby did not.

    The wingnuts have Frankie “The Ant” Antenori who’s already all but officially declared for the new district seat; I’ve no doubt he’ll make a run here. This will be good to watch, he’s a complete Republitard asshole who I think will have to step down from his current state senate seat to run if he wants to..because it’s a special election. (AZ has a ‘resign to run’ law, it may apply here)

    That’ll remove one wingnut from the State lege, and if the Dems cannot win against a genuine asshole like Frankie the Ant, they deserve to lose…this district is a lot less red than his home senate district. (we re-elected Gabby in 2010, after all)

  13. 13.

    Friend of Farley

    potential candidates who could keep her seat in the (D) column?

    Steve Farley – currently holding her old Tucson Assembly seat. Liberal public artist, with good ties to the UA/local business & arts coalition, and lots of allies in the Latino community.

  14. 14.

    jon

    Her health coverage will last forever, though she might actually get better access to brain-injury recovery medicine at military hospitals using her husband’s insurance. She’s probably got nothing to worry about either way, other than her own body and mind’s ability to recover.

    I’d look to the Tucson Weekly for the scuttlebutt about who that someone will be.

    According to the site, someone gets to run for her old district, then (likely) run in the new one a few months later. 800 signatures? Sounds tempting. Is there a lefty version of wingnut welfare? Would I have to write a book?

  15. 15.

    Roger Moore

    @Calouste:

    Although she made it past 5 years in Congress, so I thinks she qualifies for congressional benefits for life.

    It makes me wonder if she put off retiring for as long as she did just to make sure she qualified for retirement health benefits. That would be unfortunate, since it’s left her constituents without effective represetation since the shooting.

  16. 16.

    aimai

    Have they been left without effective representation? Her office was in full swing and most of most congresspeople’s actual workload is carried by their staffs–its the schmoozing of big donors and the carrying of water for big donors that gets done during votes. That’s a hugely ugly accusation to make about Representative Giffords and her staff, Roger Moore.

    aimai

  18. 18.

    Roger Moore

    @Benjamin Franklin:
    This. As inspiring as her recovery has been, it’s painful to listen to her talk because it underscores just how much she’s lost. It’s enough to make me understand people who support execution as a penalty for the most heinous crimes, even if I don’t agree with them.

  19. 19.

    The Moar You Know

    Fucking Sarah Palin got her way.

    @David Koch: She sure did, and that waste of life, Loughner, gets to go to the psych ward instead of prison. Talk about encouragement.

  20. 20.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    Wasn’t one of the GOOPERs had a shooting rally for a rifle in that district? I heard that Daniel Hernandez Jr the staffer who was credited for saving her life was mentioned

  21. 21.

    Roger Moore

    @aimai:
    And how many votes has she made in the last year? What else has changed that means it’s sensible to resign now when wasn’t six months ago? If anything, it makes less sense for her to resign now, since she’s been recovering faster than anyone expected.

  23. 23.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @David Koch:

    Yeah she did, and she proved that one fucking nut with a fucking gun can change the results of a legitimate election. Fuck you Palin, you fucking delusional bitch. I hope you rot in your version of hell.

  24. 24.

    Martin

    Hate to point this detail out regarding her health benefits:

    PPACA SEC. 1312(d)(3)(D):
    “(D) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN THE EXCHANGE.—
    (i) REQUIREMENT.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after the effective date of this subtitle, the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are—
    (I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or
    (II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act).

    From here out, Congress is on the same plans as you and I.
    From here out, Congress is just as subject to any ‘Repeal Obamacare on day one’ threats as you and I.

    This is a very good thing, but if I had a catastrophic injury I’d make sure I had a backup plan as well.

  25. 25.

    trollhattan

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    I hope you rot in your version of hell.

    Trapped in a hot tub with Als Sharpton and Gore with nothing but hot white zinfandel to drink?

    Not that I’d wish that on the Als.

  27. 27.

    r€nato

    @Yutsano: I don’t think that playing off sympathy for his wife and being an astronaut, qualifies Mark Kelly in any way for a seat in Congress. Particularly since he hasn’t lived in Arizona since… ???

    There are more than a few Democratic politicians and activists who’ve been working hard and paying their dues, who also might have something to say about Kelly carpetbagging his way into the race.

  28. 28.

    TaMara (BHF)

    I flipped on the network news tonight to hear about her decision. You know what struck me most? On two of the networks (I didn’t see NBC) the SC election results didn’t show up until the 15 minute mark and it was brief. After extensive coverage of Giffords and Paterno in both cases. I guess even the MSM realizes what a joke this all is.

  29. 29.

    TaMara (BHF)

    I flipped on the network news tonight to hear about her decision. You know what struck me most? On two of the networks (I didn’t see NBC) the SC election results didn’t show up until the 15 minute mark and it was brief. After extensive coverage of Giffords and Paterno in both cases. I guess even the MSM realizes what a joke this all is.

  30. 30.

    WereBear

    @Roger Moore: Just what is your problem? She hoped to come back, she tried to come back, she discovered it was too much.

    The least we can do for someone in that situation is give them support and a chance to see what they can do.

    I’m sure her devoted staff (one of them risked his life to save hers) was taking care of constituents and she got herself on the job for an important vote.

    Maybe you don’t mean to come off as an insensitive jerk. So stop.

  32. 32.

    r€nato

    this will also lead to a slightly nutty situation where a special election is going to be held to fill the seat… for a few months. The winner will segue right into the regular election campaign.

    Under state law, once U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ resignation becomes official, Gov. Jan Brewer has 72 hours in which to set the dates for special primary and general elections to fill the remainder of her term, which runs through the end of this year.

    The primary election must be held between 80 and 90 days after the office is officially vacated.

    The general election must be held between 50 and 60 days after the primary.

    Candidates wishing to run for the seat have 30 days after the election is called to submit nominating petitions. Despite the abbreviated time schedule, candidates will have to submit the same number of petition signatures as they would in a regular election.

    The winner of the special general election — if they wish to remain in office — will have to stand for re-election again in the upcoming regular primary and general elections in August and November.

    If they do, however, they will face a significantly different electorate the second time around as they will be required to run in the new district approved by the Independent Redistricting Commission earlier this year.

    Theoretically — and this is just speculation — if Giffords were to resign effective Wednesday, the day after the president’s State of the Union address that she plans to attend as her last official act as the congresswoman, the earliest possible date for a primary special election appears to be April 16. And that would make June 5 the earliest possible date for the general special election.

    Meanwhile, early voting begins Aug. 2 for the regularly scheduled Aug. 28 primary, followed by the regularly scheduled November general election in which congressional seats are up.

  33. 33.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @r€nato: I think the idea there is similar to a spouse running for a seat at the death of their spouse – the ability to continue fighting for the things they wanted. At least if I was in that situation, that would be why I would run.

  34. 34.

    trollhattan

    @TaMara (BHF):

    Our congresswoman won her husband’s seat in a special election after cancer took him. He was a 13-termer.

    Luckily for us, they were/are both decent, smart people.

  35. 35.

    piratedan

    gonna miss her, gonna miss working for her. There are capable people in the wings and with luck, we’ll elect them but Ms. Giffords did have a certain style and gift for working with people.

  36. 36.

    sublime33

    When are we going to call this what it was, an “assissination attempt”? Just like the anthrax mailings in 2001 which went to two Democrat and no Republicans were targets, it apparently is a sign of media liberal bias if they called it an attempted assissanation. Does party affiliation make a difference as to what the media can call these incidents?

  38. 38.

    brantl

    @WereBear:But nobody was voting for her constituents while she was out. He’s got a valid point. It’s a shitty flaw in our system that makes injuring a congressperson have value to people who don’t want them to vote. It’s another tactic to go along with how they kept Al Franken out of office, if you can find someone nutty enough to do it.

  40. 40.

    Don

    @WereBear – I don’t think it’s being an insensitive jerk to say the Giffords’ constituents deserved a voting member of congress. What was done to her was horrible but that doesn’t mean the job doesn’t need to be done.

    Personally I wish there was an attendance requirement of some level for congress; the majority of folks who aren’t showing up to vote aren’t the unfortunate victims of violence, they’re folks who are too busy campaigning to do their damned jobs. Everyone deserves better.

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