congresswoman giffords, her husband and five other patients including two wounded congressional staffers. he also thanked doctors and nurses who cared for them as they arrived on saturday. all this on a day focused on the victims that began with a surprise from sarah pailen. we add our faith to yours that representative gabrielle giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy will pull through. president obama tonight faces a high moment of challenge. a memorial called together, we thrive. the day reserved for the memorials for victims and prayers for the survivors. members of congress come together to honor the victims instead begins with sarah palin in defense of sarah palin? sarah palin is speaking out. she is feeding the beast. today? when there s a memorial service? palin releases a scripted video statement with a clear message. don t blame me. acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. not with those who listen to talk radio. have
we always do later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be your cram session for this thursday, january 13. we ve got a complete roundup of the president s remarkable speech in tucson. if you missed it last night, you re going to want to see it now. plus, more detail on the troubled life and the warning signs of the shooter, jared loughner. let s begin with the speech. speaking at a memorial in tucson last night, president obama urged the country to honor those killed and wounded in the arizona shootings by coming together. arguably the most electrifying moment came when the president shared the latest news on the condition of congresswoman gabrielle giffords. 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. her husband, mark, is here. and he allows me to share this with you. right after we went to visit, a few minutes after we left her room and some of her colleagues fro
to rest today. last night president obama also appealed for civility. it s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds. what we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other. congressman xramz clyburn just back from the memorial with us this hour. in two hours, mourners will be gathering for the funeral of 9-year-old christina green. it is the first of six funerals for the victims of saturday s shooting. prayer service for judge roll will be tonight. his funeral is tomorrow morning. and last night president obama said that the tragedy in tucson should be a turning point for the nation. 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 in the next news cycle. chuck todd is nbc news chief wh
political discourse. those are my thoughts. the eyes of the nation and really for the world for that matter, they re focused that hour in tucson. i want to show you a live picture here. take a look at this. this is the make shift memorial that keeps growing and growing. look at all the balloons, flowers, people paying their respects. this is the scene outside of the university medical center. this is the place where people just keep coming to mourn the loss of those six people all of whom were killed in that attack saturday morning. that attack that targeted arizona democrat gab rye he will giffords. also, president obama at this very moment on his way to tucson to attend a memorial service this evening. he ll address the service and the nation sometime after 8:00 eastern this evening. we have cnn s jessica yellin there at the university of arizona campus. but i want to begin with you, susan candiotti. right around where that memorial seems to be growing. if you can, susan,
priva privacy. we wish there were words so we could make you feel better. we don t understand why this happen. it mantd make any difference, but we wish we could change the heinous events of saturday. we care very deeply about the victims and their families. we are so very sorry for their loss. thank you. the loughner family. people want to ask questions of these parents who are having a very troubled time about their son and about whether they had any clues of his mental illness. a difficult time for the family. important na we have heard from them for the time. the questions remain, and it s not whether or not they knew he had a mental illness. she certainly did from their own reporting, told by the meem ma county community college your son needs help. the big question we want to ask, did he get the help? that could only come apparently from the family. as we wait to learn more, drew stay with me, we ll go down to the scene of the loughner household. susan candiotti has