James Taranto, Wall Street Journal Columnist: Gabby Giffords Could Not 'Produce 900 Publishable Words' For Op-Ed

Conservative columnist James Taranto raised eyebrows on Friday when he questioned how Gabby Giffords — who he said "has severe impairments of her motor and speech functions" — could have written her New York Times op-ed so quickly.

Giffords authored a New York Times op-ed published on April 17, after the Senate failed to pass expanded background checks for gun purchases. "Shame on them," she wrote, in response to the senators who voted against the bill.

Speaking on Friday's edition of the NRA's "Cam & Company" talk show, Taranto said he found it "odd" that Gifford was able to finish writing the piece less than five hours after the Senate vote.

"If you read this piece it's presented as a cry from the heart, as Giffords' personal reaction as somebody who's been wounded by gun violence to the betrayal of these senators," he said. "So we are supposed to believe that somehow in less than five hours a woman who has severe impairments of her motor and speech functions was able to produce 900 publishable words and put in an appearance in the White House in the course of it. So I think that's a little bit odd."

Taranto also recently attacked Giffords' plea for stricter gun control in a column for the Wall Street Journal, calling her "a practitioner of incivility and unreason."

Giffords was shot in 2011 when a gunman opened fire, killing six people and wounding 13 others. The former congresswoman has since become an advocate of gun control. She recently testified at a hearing on gun violence and urged senators to pass gun reform legislation.

(h/t Media Matters)