It's been a strange, strange week. Last Saturday was the anniversary of my father's death and if I hadn't been meeting my mother and sister for lunch that day in commemoration, I might have been down at the Gabrielle Giffords event, maybe with my kids in tow, maybe with some friends from my MoveOn council. Got the news during lunch - my phone kept ringing, the emails kept coming and for a few hours until we knew who did it, current rhetoric debates aside, my friends and I really did think it might have been a right wing zealot.
My council and I worked to help Reps Giffords and Grijalva win their very narrow re-election races this fall and we'd been to several campaign season events where some very angry, irrational hateful Tea Party types were present, some of whom have gone so far as to identify members of my council and send them creepy letters at home or ominous quasi-threatening internet posts. Many of us had met Gabby and her staff, including Gabe, who was killed in the shooting and her District Director, Ron.
For a while we didn't know if this was a wake up call or a warning shot and some of my family members and friends, not all of them liberals by any means, were honestly worried about my safety. My mom and my ex have both begged me not to take the girls to any more poltical actions. And so, for that, I say screw you Sarah Palin...I will never get those two hours of my life back.
