America Today

Syndicated columnist, Mark Shields, on the Tuscon shootings:

"There was one observation that was made this week I just have to pass on to you by a friend of mine, Allen Ginsberg, who is an historian up in Maine. And he said,

'[W]e saw a white, Catholic, Republican federal judge murdered on his way to greet a Democratic woman, member of Congress, who was his friend and was Jewish. Her life was saved initially by a 20-year-old Mexican-American college student, who saved her, and eventually by a Korean-American combat surgeon.'

...And then it was all eulogized and explained by our African-American president. And, in a tragic event, that's a remarkable statement about the country."


The above is taken from the transcript of an installment of "PBS NEWSHOUR." There was a "quotation" (a modified version of the above) floating around the Internet (including Facebook) that credited Shields with the Ginsberg's words.

Comment on the importance of verifying sources (Ronald Reagan frequently said, "trust, but verify" - a phrase he borrowed) in our fast, reactionary, digital world. ALSO, comment on the actual quotation's meaning to you.