An Emotional Goodbye for Giffords

It was an emotional goodbye for Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords on Wednesday as she formally submitted her resignation.

Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz broke down as she read Giffords' resignation letter aloud on the House floor. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wiped tears from his eyes as Giffords handed it to him.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Giffords announced in a YouTube video on Sunday that she would resign this week so she could focus on her recovery after Jared Lee Loughner allegedly shot her and 19 others outside a Tucson supermarket on Jan. 8, 2011. The massacre left six people dead.

Photo: Giffords Hugs Intern Who Saved Her Life

Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords earlier on Monday posted to her Twitter account a picture of her embracing the gay intern who is credited with saving her life a little more than a year ago.

Jared Lee Loughner allegedly shot Giffords and 13 other people outside a Tucson supermarket on Jan. 8, 2011. Six people died in the massacre, but Daniel Hernandez, Jr., provided first aid immediately after the shooting that is credited with saving her life.

Giffords announced on Sunday that she would resign from the House of Representatives in order to focus on her recovery.

Will Economic Recovery Trump Political Extremism in 2012?

Will economic recovery trump political extremism in 2012?

Mississippi voters on Tuesday, Nov. 8, rejected the so-called “Personhood Amendment” that would have declared that life in the Magnolia State begins at conception, while Ohio voters repealed a law that Republican Gov. John Kasich signed in March that severely curtailed collective bargaining rights for the state’s public workers by a 2-1 margin. Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, who spearheaded the passage of the state’s controversial Senate Bill 1070, is poised to lose his seat in a recall election.

The answer to the fore mentioned question is obviously in the eyes of the beholder—a social conservative could make the argument that President Barack Obama is an extremist because his administration no longer defends the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court, while a liberal feminist may conclude that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is an opportunistic misogynist because four women have accused him of sexual harassment while he headed the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. A Rasmussen poll last month showed that 84 percent of likely voters rank the economy as their top issue going into the 2012 election cycle, compared with only 52 percent who described immigration as a very important issue. The country’s unemployment rate remains at nine percent.

It’s the economy, stupid!

A remarkable recovery amid unanswered questions

Less than two weeks after Jared L. Loughner allegedly shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords [D-Ariz.] in the head outside a Tucson supermarket, the fact she could leave the hospital as early as tomorrow is nothing short of remarkable.

I first learned about the shooting—and the fact Loughner allegedly murdered six people and wounded 13 others—when I glanced at El Mercurio’s front page after I bought it at a newsstand a few blocks from our apartment in Santiago on Jan. 9. My boyfriend and I did not fully understand what had happened—let alone whether Giffords had even survived the assassination attempt—until we logged onto the New York Times’ Web site later that night. The full extent of what happened in Tucson left us deeply disturbed, saddened and angry.

El Mercurio published front page articles about the massacre and it’s aftermath in the days after it happened. CNN Chile broadcast clips of President Obama speaking at a memorial service in Tucson on Jan. 12. And local television stations also included stories in their evening newscasts.

As we tried to follow what was happening back in the United States, some questions came to mind. These included whether the country’s heated political rhetoric prompted Loughlin to allegedly kill six people and wound Giffords and 12 others on Jan. 8, whether U.S. Sen. John McCain [R-Ariz.] should have cancelled his trip to Chile immediately after the Tucson massacre and whether former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin actually has the ability to decline an opportunity to garner self-serving attention. The answers to these questions and others will continue to reveal themselves in the coming weeks and months. That said, however, it remains imperative to remember those who lost their lives and to keep Giffords and other survivors in our collective thoughts as they continue to recover.

Grand Canyon