Brody's Notes... Arizona Governor Recognizes Congresswoman's Intern- Focuses On Tucson Shootings

Daniel Hernandez being applauded by Arizona Legislators for his heroism during the Tucson tragedy  

By Mark Singer (Washington DC) JAN 10 | In a somber tone, Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer delivered her 'State Of The State' address, opening the new session of the Arizona legislature.
Brewer told those gathered in the chamber as well as the national audience watching the televised event, that the Saturday shootings of Congresswoman Gabrielle and 19 others was an assault on American democracy.

"Saturday's events were not just an attack on those individuals we loved and lost but an assault on our constitutional republic, on our democracy," Brewer said. "Arizona is in pain. Yes, our grief is profound. We are yet in the first hours of our sorrows but we have not been brought down. We will never be brought down."

In her speech, the Governor highlighted victims of the tragedy, including 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, who was fatally shot, and Congresswoman Gifford's 20 year old intern, Daniel Hernandez, who rushed to help the Congresswoman moments after she was hit. Fighting back tears, Brewer described how Green, just elected to her school's student council, was excited to go to the "Congress on Your Corner" event that Giffords was hosting.

"She loved baseball, she was the only girl on her Little League baseball team and she loved to wear red, white and blue," Brewer said of Green.

The Governor asked Hernandez to rise in appreciation of his service,  and the entire chamber erupted in a standing round of sustained applause.

In a speech that lacked any kind of rhetoric that could be interpreted as partisan, Governor Brewer repeatedly referred to the type of "public service" that legislators like "Gabby" [Giffords] performed every day  to serve the public interest.

"With our faith and our courage tightly in place, we will step forward from this chamber, dedicated to doing the Lord's work, continuing to do the service of the public," Brewer said. "Arizona, like all of America, has been through difficult times before," Brewer said. "But those times have made us stronger, more enduring."