President Obama visits Giffords, others at Arizona hospital

[cal04]

Source: Associated Press

President Barack Obama flew to Arizona Wednesday and headed straight to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' bedside to pay his respects to the wounded lawmaker as he sought to unify a mourning nation.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, were visiting privately at University Medical Center with Giffords and other victims of the weekend shootings that killed six people and wounded 13. He was then meeting with family members of those killed before speaking at a nighttime memorial service in Tucson.

"The president wanted to begin this solemn trip by stopping first at the hospital where Congresswoman Giffords and others continue to recuperate," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters traveling with the president. Giffords was the target of the first assassination attempt on a member of Congress in decades.

Searching for the right tone in the evening service, Obama aimed to console the country, not dissect its politics. In talking of those shot and killed, Obama will "reflect on how all of us might best honor their memory in our own lives," his spokesman said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110113/ap_on_re_us/us_congresswoman_shot_obama

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President Obama Visits Rep. Giffords Before Tucson Speech
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/12/national/main7240431.shtml?tag=breakingnews

President Obama at Tucson memorial service
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/1/12/935864/-President-Obama-at-Tucson-memorial-service

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

1. Meanwhile Gotcha-you-betcha hid behind her teleprompter

but managed to release her teleprompted (you really shouldn't wear glasses, Sarah) pontification at 4 am Alaska time to grab the news cycle and upstage a day of serious memorial.

Too bad your speech writers couldn't have done a better job, Sarah.