Senator Barbara Boxer’s comments to Condi

In an earlier post today, I mentioned briefly the dustup over low blow comments Senator Barbara Boxer made to Sec. of State Condi Rice in a heated exchange about the Iraq war during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. Here’s the exchange:

Rice: “I can never do anything to replace any of the lost men and women in uniform, or the diplomats, some of whom . . . ”

An interrupting Boxer: “Madame Secretary, please, I know you feel terrible about it; that’s not the point. I was making the point about who pays the price for your decisions. Now the issue is who pays the price? Who pays the price? I’m not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old, and my grandchild is too young. You’re not going to pay a particular price, as I understand, with an immediate family.”

It was, of course, a cheap shot at the fact that Condi had no children, a shot that no woman should ever take at another (Condi wasn’t happy about the cheap shot, either). Gee, I wonder if the man-hating anti-family NOW gang will rush to Condi’s defense?

But the bigger issue here, I think, is that her comments towards Rice represented a version of the old chickenhawk argument, and that is that if you haven’t served combat duty and/or don’t have family members who do/have, then you don’t have much credibilty on matters of war and that you can’t really ‘feel’ for those who are serving and their family members because of it, which is kind of ironic, considering that Boxer herself admitted that her children were too old to serve and her grandchidren were too young to serve. So who the hell is she to lecture someone else about what military families feel and go through if she doesn’t have any ‘immediate’ family in harm’s way herself? Isn’t that how the “chickenhawk” argument works, Babs?

Has Senator Boxer visited with and met with more troops and their families than the Sec. of State, and therefore have some ‘inside knowledge’ about how military men and their families feel? No? Then why don’t you sit back and let those who have served or have family members grill Ms. Rice, Senator, because according to your own rules, you don’t have any credibility on matters of war and you can’t really feel’ for those who are serving either since no one in your ‘immediate’ family is serving.

If arrogance was a country, Senator Boxer would be the queen of it.

Hot Air has video of the exchange.

Oh, and in case you missed it, a few stuck-in-nam anti-war hippies were in attendance.

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