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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

KeithOlbermann

 Rep. Giffords is "definitely 'there'," her aide tells Brian Williams. She's made "V" sign with her fingers, scratched her nose...

All of that - plus adjusting her own hospital gown - was NOT at doctors' instructions. The Congresswoman is doing that... herself :)

And updating you on today's cheering news of Congresswoman Giffords' spontaneous examples of hand and brain coordination.

We will not defile our coverage by including videotape of, or discussing the remarks by, outside politicians.

 I should redirect my verb.We will not defile the event, by including IN our coverage, videotape of outside politicians



POTUS says Gabby Giffords has opened her eyes this evening for first time since shooting

Cong. Giffords' aide: she not only opened her eyes, she reached up, as if towards her husband

Congresswoman's eyes open, President's heart opens to the victims & the nation.

And late details from those in the room as the Congresswoman opened her eyes

Full prepared remarks of President Obama at memorial service for Tucson shooting victims

Obama: We must "make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds."

President Barack Obama tonight addressed Arizona -- and the nation -- at a memorial event held in the wake of the mass-shooting that killed six on Jan. 8 in Arizona.
In key parts, he said:
But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.
And later:
But what we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another.  As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility.  Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.
And, finally:
So sudden loss causes us to look backward – but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us.  We may ask ourselves if we’ve shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives.  Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order.  We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame – but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.
The president's full speech, as prepared for delivery, is below the jump.
* * *
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
__________________________________________________________
EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY
January 12, 2011
Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery
At a Memorial Service for the Victims of the Shooting in Tucson, Arizona
University of Arizona, McKale Memorial Center
Tucson, Arizona
January 12, 2011
As Prepared for Delivery—

To the families of those we’ve lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants gathered tonight, and the people of Tucson and Arizona:  I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow.
There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts.  But know this: the hopes of a nation are here tonight.  We mourn with you for the fallen.  We join you in your grief.  And we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy pull through.
As Scripture tells us:

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff, and many of her constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and free speech.  They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders – representatives of the people answering to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns to our nation’s capital.  Gabby called it “Congress on Your Corner” – just an updated version of government of and by and for the people.
That is the quintessentially American scene that was shattered by a gunman’s bullets.  And the six people who lost their lives on Saturday – they too represented what is best in America.
Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years.  A graduate of this university and its law school, Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain twenty years ago, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and rose to become Arizona’s chief federal judge.  His colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit.  He was on his way back from attending Mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say hi to his Representative.  John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his three sons, and his five grandchildren.
George and Dorothy Morris – “Dot” to her friends – were high school sweethearts who got married and had two daughters.  They did everything together, traveling the open road in their RV, enjoying what their friends called a 50-year honeymoon.  Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their Congresswoman had to say.  When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine, instinctively tried to shield his wife.  Both were shot.  Dot passed away.
A New Jersey native, Phyllis Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow. But in the summer, she would return East, where her world revolved around her 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 2 year-old great-granddaughter.  A gifted quilter, she’d often work under her favorite tree, or sometimes sew aprons with the logos of the Jets and the Giants to give out at the church where she volunteered.  A Republican, she took a liking to Gabby, and wanted to get to know her better.
Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson together – about seventy years ago. They moved apart and started their own respective families, but after both were widowed they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy’s daughters put it, “be boyfriend and girlfriend again.” When they weren’t out on the road in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ.  A retired construction worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing up the church along with their dog, Tux.  His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers.
Everything Gabe Zimmerman did, he did with passion – but his true passion was people.  As Gabby’s outreach director, he made the cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it that seniors got the Medicare benefits they had earned, that veterans got the medals and care they deserved, that government was working for ordinary folks.  He died doing what he loved – talking with people and seeing how he could help.  Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his brother, Ben, and his fiancĂ©e, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year.
And then there is nine year-old Christina Taylor Green.  Christina was an A student, a dancer, a gymnast, and a swimmer.  She often proclaimed that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the major leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her.  She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age, and would remind her mother, “We are so blessed.  We have the best life.”  And she’d pay those blessings back by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate.
Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing.  Our hearts are broken – and yet, our hearts also have reason for fullness.
Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans who survived the shooting, including the congresswoman many of them went to see on Saturday.  I have just come from the University Medical Center, just a mile from here, where our friend Gabby courageously fights to recover even as we speak.  And I can tell you this – she knows we’re here and she knows we love her and she knows that we will be rooting for her throughout what will be a difficult journey.
And our hearts are full of gratitude for those who saved others.  We are grateful for Daniel Hernandez, a volunteer in Gabby’s office who ran through the chaos to minister to his boss, tending to her wounds to keep her alive.  We are grateful for the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload.  We are grateful for a petite 61 year-old, Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the killer’s ammunition, undoubtedly saving some lives.  And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and emergency medics who worked wonders to heal those who’d been hurt.
These men and women remind us that heroism is found not only on the fields of battle.  They remind us that heroism does not require special training or physical strength.  Heroism is here, all around us, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, just waiting to be summoned – as it was on Saturday morning.
Their actions, their selflessness, also pose a challenge to each of us.  It raises the question of what, beyond the prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward.  How can we honor the fallen?  How can we be true to their memory?
You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations – to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless.  Already we’ve seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems.  Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.
But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.
Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding.  In the words of Job, “when I looked for light, then came darkness.”  Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.
For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack.  None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind.
So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy.  We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.
But what we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another.  As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility.  Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.
After all, that’s what most of us do when we lose someone in our family – especially if the loss is unexpected.  We’re shaken from our routines, and forced to look inward.  We reflect on the past.   Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder.  Did we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices they made for us?  Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in awhile but every single day?
So sudden loss causes us to look backward – but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us.  We may ask ourselves if we’ve shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives.  Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order.  We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame – but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.
That process of reflection, of making sure we align our values with our actions – that, I believe, is what a tragedy like this requires.  For those who were harmed, those who were killed – they are part of our family, an American family 300 million strong.  We may not have known them personally, but we surely see ourselves in them.  In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense the abiding love we have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life partners.  Phyllis – she’s our mom or grandma; Gabe our brother or son.  In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who embodied America’s fidelity to the law.  In Gabby, we see a reflection of our public spiritedness, that desire to participate in that sometimes frustrating, sometimes contentious, but always necessary and never-ending process to form a more perfect union.
And in Christina…in Christina we see all of our children.  So curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic.
So deserving of our love.
And so deserving of our good example.  If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost.  Let’s make sure it’s not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle.
The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives – to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents.  And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud.  It should be because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other’s ideas without questioning each other’s love of country, and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations.
I believe we can be better.  Those who died here, those who saved lives here – they help me believe.  We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us.  I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.
That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed.  Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation’s future.  She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful.  She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model.  She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.
I want us to live up to her expectations.  I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it.  All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.
Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called “Faces of Hope.”  On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child’s life.  “I hope you help those in need,” read one.  “I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart.  I hope you jump in rain puddles.”
If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today.  And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.
May God bless and keep those we’ve lost in restful and eternal peace.  May He love and watch over the survivors.  And may He bless the United States of America.

Hezbollah and its allies topple Lebanon government

BEIRUT – Lebanon's government collapsed Wednesday after Hezbollah and its allies resigned from the Cabinet in a dispute with Western-backed factions over upcoming indictments in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
A U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others is widely expected to name members of the Shiite militant group, which many fear could re-ignite sectarian violence that has erupted repeatedly in the tiny nation.
Hezbollah's walkout ushers in the country's worst political crisis since 2008 in one of the most volatile corners of the Middle East.
Lebanon's 14-month-old government was an uneasy coalition linking bitter rivals: a Western-backed bloc led by Hariri's son Saad and Hezbollah, which is supported by Syria and Iran and maintains an arsenal that far outweighs that of the national army.
Disputes over the tribunal have paralyzed the government for months, with Hezbollah denouncing the court as a conspiracy by the U.S. and Israel and urging the prime minister to reject any of its findings. But Hariri has refused to break cooperation with the Netherlands-based tribunal.
Now, the chasm between the two sides is deepening with Hezbollah accusing Hariri's bloc of bowing to the West. Hezbollah's ministers timed their resignations to coincide with Hariri's meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, forcing him to meet the American president as a caretaker prime minister.
Western governments have worked to strengthen the central government since Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war in 2006, but they also have expressed concern about the balance of power with the heavily armed militant group.
The U.S. classifies Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
A White House statement said Obama commended Hariri for his "steadfast leadership and efforts to reach peace, stability and consensus in Lebanon under difficult circumstances."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Hezbollah's actions are "a transparent effort ... to subvert justice and to undermine Lebanon's sovereignty and independence."
"No country should be forced to choose between justice and stability," Clinton said while traveling in Doha, Qatar. "The Lebanese people deserve both."
Hariri's office had no immediate comment on the walkout that brought down his government, but they said he was heading to France to meet French President Sarkozy before heading back to Beirut. France, Lebanon's former colonial power, is a major player in Lebanese politics.
The immediate trigger for the Hezbollah withdrawal was the failure of talks between Syria and Saudi Arabia, a Hariri ally, to try to find a compromise over the tribunal.
There had been few details about the direction of the Syrian-Saudi initiative, but the talks were lauded as a potential Arab breakthrough, rather than a solution offered by Western powers.
"This Cabinet has become a burden on the Lebanese, unable to do its work," Jibran Bassil, who is resigning his post as energy minister, said at a news conference, flanked by the other Hezbollah-allied ministers who are stepping down. "We are giving a chance for another government to take over."
Bassil said the ministers decided to resign after Hariri "succumbed to foreign and American pressures" and turned his back on the Syrian-Saudi efforts.
Calls to the tribunal seeking comment Wednesday were not immediately returned.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "is monitoring closely developments in Lebanon, where the situation is fast evolving," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
Hariri formed the current national unity government in November 2009 after his bloc narrowly defeated the Hezbollah-led opposition in elections. But it has struggled to function, and in the past two months it has met only for a few minutes because of the dispute over the tribunal.
Violence has been a major concern as tensions rise in Lebanon, where Shiites, Sunnis and Christians each make up about a third of the country's 4 million people. In 2008, sectarian clashes killed 81 people and nearly plunged Lebanon into another civil war.
Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, said he does not expect any immediate widescale violence, particularly after the destruction seen in 2008.
"I would think that the fears of sectarian violence are less now than they might have been a few years ago ... People are working overtime to avoid violence," he said.
Rafik Hariri's assassination in a massive truck bombings both stunned and polarized Lebanese. He was Lebanon's most prominent politician in the years after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war — a Sunni who was a hero to his own community and backed by many Christians who sympathized with his efforts in the last few months of his life to reduce Syrian influence in the country.
A string of assassinations of anti-Syrian politicians and public figures followed, which U.N. investigators have said may have been connected to the Hariri killing.
The tribunal has not said who it will indict, but Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has said he has information that members of his group will be named.
Now that the government has fallen, President Michel Suleiman will likely hold a meeting with the parliament speaker marking the beginning of consultations with lawmakers to name a prime minister-designate.
It is possible that Saad Hariri will get the largest numbers of backers given that he heads the largest bloc in parliament, but he could not build a coalition again without appealing to Hezbollah and its allies.
"Politics is a game of negotiations," Khouri said. "Whoever gets the best deal wins."
___
Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut, Matthew Lee in Doha, Qatar, and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

Comments by David Corn, Mharris Perry, Michelle Malkin and Kristina Nation

"What we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another." Biggest applause line of night, so far.

POTUS asks us to expand our moral imaginations and to sharpen our instincts for empathy.

A lovely speech. Anyone want to argue with that?

Obama's words: "[W]hat we can't do is use this tragedy as 1 more occasion 2 turn on one another."

Always, always, always Obama asks us to remember there is no US and THEM there is just "we." We are linked. We are one.

Obama addressing, as he did during the campaign, the desire for American unity.

Obama has two girls. He's speaking about them. This is when he seems the most emotional.

"The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better." If only.

"Only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation." Key word, of course, is "honest."

POTUS reminds us Civility is necessary to honor those lost, not because it caused their death. Hello nuance!

"We can question each other’s ideas without questioning each other’s love of country." If only.

POTUS is reminding us that we cannot abandon the high road just because it is rocky.

Obama asks us to make America as good as Christina imagined it. #YES

Obama letting his own emotions crescendo in the speech, telling Christina's story. "I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it."

the line that caught Obama's voice: "If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today."

Thank you President Obama. We needed you tonight. You showed up.

I am reminded that we must peer even harder into our unknowable future to see a beloved community that is outlined there.

President speaks as aspirational, inspirational, even sentimental leader--a healer, a humanist, a committed public servant.

"Weeping may endure for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.--Matthew 5:4

Lost my connection toward end if the speech. Overall impression: a very positive moment & a reminder of O's considerable abilities

Peace I leave w/ you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives...Do not not be afraid.--John 14:27

Reax to thus speech might separate the haters from the principled opponents. Then again..,,

Republican and Democrat, not a dry eye in the arena. Leave it to presidential historians to rank that speech, I bet it'll be high.

This is obviously a man who hates America, freedom, and liberty and wants to weaken the nation.

Obama: use this "to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy"

Good night. I am going to go hug my 8-year-old until she makes me leave her alone.

Do yourself a favor and let that speech sink in before you tune into the slice and dice of TV.

When President spoke of kindness & need to expand our moral imaginations and of humility & complexity, I remembered Candidate Obama.

I have a 9-year-old daughter. I cannot imagine having to give such a speech. It's heartening to see a leader lead so well.

Emotion not reason is what so often drives our politics. If kind & good emotion, go with it! Tonight we saw emotional leader in President/

There you go. RT @GregMitch Michael Gerson on CNN: an Obama "pep rally" and how dare he "lecture" about the "news cycle"? And "too long."

Husband believed President lost opportunity 4 great speech. He thought it was Hallmark/y. I told him to shove it. He called me a Left Oprah/

A President who uses word "discourse"/ has me at get go.

Husband believes President missed opportunity 2 call out those who have poisoned our politics. If everybody guilty, then nobody guilty.

What a surprise. RT @DarthWeiner75: @DavidCornDC @GregMitch Krauthammer of Faux just put down the Native prayer.

Crisis is moment for creativity. Did Obama use the moment to speak to larger truths afflicting our society and country?

Husband told me there is no crying as editor of The Nation. I told him there's time for crying & time for fighting. Tonight, I cry.

I also thought deft use of words by President: "self-government" and "public-spiritedness" --If we lived up 2 those/make us stronger nation

President Obama would have been a great civic spiritualist at turn of 20th century. Religion: Public-spiritedness.

Video: President Obama: Memorial in Arizona


 
January 12, 2011 | 33:44 | Public Domain
The President speaks at a memorial event for the victims of the tragic shooting in Arizona, “Together We Thrive: Tucson and America.”

Palin: Critics create 'blood libel' after Tucson shooting




msnbc.com news services updated 1/12/2011 4:42:50 PM ET
Sarah Palin posted a nearly eight-minute video on her Facebook page early Wednesday, accusing journalists and pundits of inciting hatred and violence in the wake of a deadly Arizona shooting that gravely wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Last spring, Palin targeted Giffords' district as one of 20 that should be taken back. Palin has been criticized for marking each district with the cross hairs of a gun sight.
In the video posted Wednesday, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate said vigorous debates are a cherished tradition. But she said after the election, both sides find common ground, even though they disagree.
"But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible," she said.
The term "blood libel" is the false allegation that Jews kill non-Jews, especially Christian children, to acquire blood for the Passover or other Jewish rituals, according to the Jewish Virtual Library. It has been used in other contexts, and Palin's meaning was not clear. Her aides did not immediately respond to an e-mail early Wednesday.
What is 'blood libel'? Jared Loughner, 22, is accused of trying to assassinate Giffords, wounding 12 others and killing six people.

"There are those who claim political rhetoric is to blame for the despicable act of this deranged, apparently apolitical criminal," Palin said. "And they claim political debate has somehow gotten more heated just recently. But when was it less heated? Back in those 'calm days' when political figures literally settled their differences with dueling pistols?"
'Acts of monstrous criminality' Palin quoted former President Ronald Reagan as saying that "we must reject the idea that every time a law is broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker."
"It's time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions," Palin continued, still quoting Reagan.
Live vote: Weigh in on Palin's reaction "Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own," she added. "They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of the state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectably exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election."
Story: Conservatives scoff at attempted linkage to shooting Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik had told the TODAY show Monday that political rhetoric may have contributed to Loughner's actions. "I think the tone of rhetoric that's occurred in this country over the past couple of years affects troubled personalities," he said.
Palin countered that and similar assertions, noting the "peaceful transition of power" when President Barack Obama took office and following the 2008 and 2010 elections, and pointing out that "vigorous and spirited public debates" are part of the process before candidates "shake hands and we get back to work, and often both sides find common ground back in DC and elsewhere."