Your Morning Cry: Gabrielle Giffords Leads the Pledge of Allegiance

Feeling stone hearted this morning, like your cold black heart can’t possibly feel any more feelings? Are your eyes drier than a Kansas corn field? Here’s a remedy for the drought on your face — former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords leading the DNC in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Giffords’ role at the Democratic National Convention was kept hush-hush until the day before she was scheduled to appear, according to Politico. Her appearance, originally slated for the afternoon, was also pushed back to later in the evening, so a prime time viewing audience could witness the woman who was shot in the head in January of 2011 walk and speak after a long recovery against the odds.

When Giffords has appeared in public before this (notably for the congressional tearfest that was her retirement from the House this January), we saw her smiling and waving, but not walking out in the open and talking. But this time, accompanied by her friend and former colleague Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Giffords walked with a determined but unsteady gait and spoke slowly, but with enthusiasm. She stumbled over the word “indivisible” (to be fair, I stumble over that word, and I’m not recovering from a life threatening brain injury) and had to use her left hand to hold her right hand over her heart, but that didn’t matter. People were chanting “Gabby! Gabby! Gabby!” and everyone cried and cried. On her way off stage, she blew kisses.

I know a convention cameraman loves a tearful reaction shot like Ramona Singer loves Pinot Grigio, but I can’t imagine there was a dry eye in the house.