Put simply, if Rob Tibbetts were to drop everything and run for president, I might just drop everything and join his campaign. From the Des Moines Register:

Speaking Sunday afternoon to more than 1,000 people at a ceremony at his daughter's former high school, Rob Tibbetts didn't directly respond to comments by President Donald Trump and others who quickly seized upon the suspect's citizenship to argue for changes in immigration laws. Rob Tibbetts has not publicly commented on the issue. But in his eulogy, he highlighted how the local Hispanic community had embraced him as he searched for his daughter in recent weeks. While in Iowa for nearly six weeks, Hotel Grinnell put him up for free. During that time, he said he ate at a number of Mexican restaurants, where employees were sensitive and kind. They knew when he needed space or when he needed to joke, he said.



"The Hispanic community are Iowans. They have the same values as Iowans," he said, including an emphasis on family. "As far as I'm concerned, they're Iowans with better food."

I am always amazed by the courage of people who put themselves out in public in the middle of unspeakable tragedy. But, dammit, I cannot imagine the strength it takes to crack wise under those circumstances. Not only did Rob Tibbetts tell the president* and all those reeking vampires on Fox News to keep his daughter out of their politics and her name out of their mouths, he was funny while he did it.



The rest of the account of her memorial service and funeral mass apparently was of a piece with Tibbetts's response.

In eulogizing his 20-year-old daughter, Mollie, who was found dead Tuesday after she vanished more than a month earlier, Tibbetts said he wanted to celebrate "something wonderful." The couple popped up—they had just been married the day before—to the crowd's joyful applause. "That felt good. That’s what Mollie would have done," he said. "Let’s try one more. Let’s hear it for the Bears football team—for their first win." Mollie’s younger brother, Scott, the starting quarterback, helped lead the team to victory.

The Brooklyn-Guernsey-Malcom High School Bears beat Lisbon, 35-24. Scott Tibbetts threw for two touchdowns, ran for another, and recovered the onside kick that sealed the win. That's playing through pain. This is quite a remarkable family.

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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