By Sergio Arellano-Oros
On Thursday, in response to the revelations by popular Tucson radio personality, James T. Harris, Mark Kelly and his public relations crew released a statement of former congresswoman Gabby Giffords’s Facebook purportedly authored by Giffords in defense of her husband.
The news of Harris’s revelations were about to break on Brietbart.com and the Kelly camp went into full spin mode. Kelly declined to respond to Brietbart inquiries and instead had operatives post a defense of the campaign photos in her name.
Ever since Kelly’s incredible explanation of his recent gun purchases to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Kelly has stepped out of the spotlight and left the repair work to his public relations team; Pia Carusone and Jen Bluestein.
According to Brietbart news, “At 1:14 p.m. PDT, Giffords posted two images on her Facebook page with the following statement:
Here are two photos of me that a conservative blog has dug up. I remember both of these days fondly. The first is at the Tucson Police Department firing range. They invited me to test rifles and tasers that they bought with federal funds, which I helped secure. The second was in Afghanistan while I was visiting with our troops serving abroad. My work as Southern Arizona’s Congresswoman frequently put me in close contact with some of the world’s most powerful and deadly weapons – supporting police departments, advocating for the Border Patrol, standing up for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and supporting my constituents’ and my own Second Amendment rights.
I grew up with guns, and I like owning them. So does my husband Mark. It’s an interest we’ve shared ever since we met. It’s part of my heritage as an Arizonan and it’s my right as an American. Being able to shoot a gun is something I haven’t been able to do since I was shot – because my right arm is paralyzed, and I’m less mobile than I was.
As I member of the House Armed Services Committee, I proudly spent a lot of time with our military, border patrol and state and local law enforcement. I guess the intention of those who have publicized these photos is to somehow call into question my belief that military style assault weapons should be more strongly regulated with background checks and other safeguards. I have never wavered in my support for those who serve our country. I fought to make sure they have the weapons and safety gear needed to carry out their mission, and proper health and mental care when their service ends.
Both sides of the gun violence debate usually miss the point. We don’t have to choose between owning, using, and enjoying guns, on one hand, and preventing gun violence, on the other. Both sides need to come together to support commonsense solutions to gun violence, like keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people like the young man who shot me. That’s why I’m fighting this fight. That’s why I’m working to bring people together to support gun rights and reduce gun violence. I hope you join me.”
At the hearing before congress on gun control, Giffords delivered this message in person:
Speaking is difficult, but I need to say something important,” she told the panel chaired by Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt.
“Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying, too many children. We must do something. It will be hard, but the time is now. You must act. Be bold, be courageous, Americans are counting on you. Thank you,”
At the end of her speech, Giffords raised her hand in a gesture signifying that she successfully completed the task assigned her. She was then led out of the hearing room.
Her speech, penned by a speech therapist, was scrawled on lined notebook paper. According to Megan Garber of The Atlantic:
“It turns out that Giffords’s speech therapist wrote the note, not Giffords herself — and that Americans for Responsible Solution’s reference to “Gabby Giffords’ handwritten testimony at the Senate Judiciary Committee” meant “handwritten” in a general sense.
That is made even clearer clear by an image posted to the Facebook page of Americans for Responsible Solutions, the organization Giffords and Kelly founded to help reduce gun violence: the text of Giffords’s speech. The pen-scrawled words, written out by Giffords’s speech therapist, are scrawled on a surface all too familiar to schoolchildren: binder paper.”
Garber points out that Giffords has said that one of the “most frustrating aspects of her injury, is the fact that she can understand what’s going on around her — but she is unable to articulate responses to that activity. She is trapped in her injury. And few things make that point more powerfully than a piece of binder paper scrawled with large, easy-to-read letters.”
At that time, many expressed concern that it appeared Giffords was being used. One veteran and wounded warrior questioned the fact that Gabby Giffords was in a strenuous environment like a public hearing. “If Mark Kelly wants to further his political aspirations and be on every news station or in front of congressional and senate panels he should do so as himself. As a person who has worked with warriors suffering from severe TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) it is incredibly unhealthy to expose someone who has gone through the trauma of a shooting to endure more and more events where gun related killings are happening around the nation.”
An employee of the Department of Veteran Affairs who specializes in Brain Injuries chose to remain anonymous and stated “I have seen these guys break down from the exhaustion of just having to interact with people, now you put this poor woman on a national stage trying as hard as she can to look in control and together while being told what to say, where to go, when to stand, when to sit. Meanwhile she struggles to walk, her right arm is paralyzed, and she’s partially blind. I have it on good authority that Gabby Gifford’s sometimes breaks out crying and wants to go home due to the stresses of traveling. I would too if I was being paraded for others to gawk at and sympathize. Let her recover and stop using Gabby as your puppet.”
It was this revelation last month that made Thursday’s Facebook post by Mr. Kelly and his operatives so objectionable to so many.
Harris, who offers commentary frequently on the BBC and Fox, noted, “His last post before the March 8 rationalization was on March 6, when Kelly posted, ‘My wife defines courage.’ Which is exactly why Kelly has come under such attack; his wife does define courage and he defines cowardice.”
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