Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to resign from Congress

The inspiring video:

The story via Arizona Daily Star:

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will step down from Congress this week to focus on her recovery, her staff announced Sunday.

“I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week,” Giffords said in a video message.

Giffords, a third-generation Arizonan who served five years in the state Legislature before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2006, will not seek re-election this fall.

Giffords vowed to return public service.

“I will return and we will work together for Arizona and this great country,” she said.

In the two-minute video, Giffords urged her colleagues in Congress to work across party lines.

“A lot has happened over the past year,” she said. “We cannot change that. But I know on the issues we fought for, we can change things for the better.”

Giffords will submit her letter of resignation later this week to House Speaker John Boehner and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. The governor will set the date for special primary and general elections to determine who will serve the remainder of Giffords’ term.

God Bless her, my her recovery be swift.

I will say this, I am very highly disappointed in this nasty comments being left over on the YouTube page where this video was posted. I don’t give a hoot who it is and what side they are on; it is shameful.

Related:

Gabrielle Giffords: U.S. REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS WILL STEP DOWN FROM CONGRESS THIS WEEK

ABCNEWS: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords to Step Down from Congress

Round Up: msnbc.com, Scared Monkeys, Patterico’s Pontifications, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, The Democratic Daily, The Raw Story, Arizona Republic and The Moderate Voice, WTVM-TV, Taegan Goddard’s …, Wake up America, The Daily Caller, Guardian, The Political Carnival, RedState, CBS New York and The Impolitic

Update: As always Ed Morrissey displays the class that makes me respect him very highly:

I respect Giffords’ decision, given her inability to execute the duties of the office and her need to focus on her recovery, but I wish she could have recovered enough to fill out the rest of her term.  It would have been a defiant answer to the madness of her would-be assassin.  Regardless, my prayers will be with her and her family as she continues to recover, and I hope that she finds herself able to return to full capacity as soon as possible.  I may have disagreed with Giffords on many points of policy, but the courage shown by her and her husband in very difficult circumstances has been inspiring to people all across the political spectrum.

Agreed times 1 bazillion.

Update #2: Apparently some bloggers have nothing better to do than to knock others down to make themselves look good. Kinda like a particular pony-tailed queer I know.  I say this to her in Yiddish:

du bist an absolut umkoved keyn dayn mishpokhe  keyn got der tate un keyn your`land yisroyl