Posted by: Sister Toldjah on June 19, 2009 at 9:20 am
Can you believe this crap?
In case you forgot, Barbara Boxer is a senator.
The feisty California lawmaker felt the need to remind an Army brigadier general of that fact Tuesday during a hearing before her Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, where the military officer testifying had the apparent gall to call Boxer “ma’am.”
Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was testifying on the Louisiana coastal restoration process in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He began to answer one of Boxer’s questions with “ma’am” when Boxer immediately cut him off.
“You know, do me a favor,” an irritated Boxer said. “Could say ’senator’ instead of ‘ma’am?’”
“Yes, ma’am,” Walsh interjected.
“It’s just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it, yes, thank you,” she said.
“Yes, senator,” he responded.
However, Walsh surely meant no disrespect, as military protocol advises that officers may use “sir” or “ma’am” when addressing anybody higher than them on the chain of command.
“We would call them ’sir’ or ‘ma’am’ or ’senator such-and-such’,” Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nathan Banks said. Banks said any of those terms would be “appropriate” when addressing a senator.
But apparently not to one who believes it’s insulting to refer to a woman as “ma’am” because it (gasp!) denotes her gender, which she and other feminists often mistake for attempts at “slighting” them. There’s no question that that’s exactly what this was about.
I wonder if Boxer objects to being called “Mrs. Boxer,” too?
Andrew Malcolm has video of the exchange.
Oh – and in case you’re wondering, there’s a hyocrisy angle here, too:
A Foxnews.com blogger suggests that Boxer forgot that she, herself, had addressed former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in similar fashion.
“Few may remember that Boxer called Rice ‘Madam’ three different times during testimony while the secretary of state was appearing before Congress,” Tommy De Seno writes in Justified Right.
“Put aside that in England where the word originates, Madam is used to address the queen or a royal princess. Forget that in America, Madam is an appellation of respect used toward women. It is all still far below Her Liege Barbara Boxer.”
Really, Senator Boxer. Can’t you find more pressing issues to complain about, ma’am?
Related: Don Surber digs up an old episode of Gomer Pyle from 1965 that is very relevant to this discussion. The synopsis:
“Gomer gets in hot water with a female officer when he fails to salute her and instead tips his hat and says ‘hey ma’am.’ To teach him a lesson, Gomer is required to clean the Captain’s office each day for a week. But it’s Captain Ironpants who learns about respect when Gomer teaches her about Southern hospitality.”
And to think there are women today – primarily the uberfems like Mrs. Boxer, who object to such things!
Have we really “come a long way, baby”?
Velvet Lair
I know the military has too much honor and discipline to do this, but he should have answered “I’m sorry Senator, but considering the record low approval ratings for Congress, I didn’t want to insult you by calling you senator, but whatever you like.”
I can think of another choice name he could/should have called her
This is the same prideful attitude that we were discussing with Aakash not so long ago. She is a servant of the people, and she should be called Senator because she is a representative of the state of California. She deserves a swift kick in all actuality. It’s not about you Babs.
Sooooo Because she uses the term as an insult it must be so for everyone who uses it. God wake me up when it is 2012 and the adults are back in charge. – Lorica
“Yes ma’am, Senator!” I don’t think Barbara Boxer is a yell of laughter at a party…
How about “Excuse Me Box of Rocks”. Gosh, the arrogance of these elitist. Worked hard. Not one of those elitists know what it is like to work hard.
Well, I think it was Rita Rudner who used to do a bit in her act where she said “You know what ma’am means? B*tch”
With Boxer, I guess that fits.
Next up, unhinged liberals trolling the righty blogs for comments such as this.
I’d rather be called ma’am lately. Then again – I’m a lesbian stuck in a male body. I love women.
I could not believe this when I read it. What a crock! As has already been stated, she could have been called much worse.
Just another example of where the dems priorities lie. They are more interested in their prestige and appearance then substance.
So sad.
Amen to that, brother!
Has no one taken this line of thinking to it’s logical conclusion? What does our dear senator think the first female president will be called when addressed in person? Yes: Madam President!
I don’t doubt that in her heart of hearts That Woman Boxer (I’m currently refusing to give her a title at all) really, really wishes to be the first female president — no matter how miniscule her chances are.
But still, if she were president, what would we call her? It’s always been “Mr. President” — by the choice of George Washington, by the way, to ensure that the office of the presidency did not obtain a title separate from or above that of every other citizen.
So would she reject the obvious, traditional, and only appropriate female alternative and insist that no one use the word “Madam” or it’s abbreviated form “ma’am” because her pea brain cannot understand the intrinsic respect and the honor and tradition that go with the term as applied to our elected officials?
It all points to how deeply she believes she is better than the rest of us peons, Brig. General and all.
Madam Thatcher, Madam Meir, Madam Bhutto, Madam Ghandi — and so many others that could be named — are a thousand times more worthy of the title than “That Woman Boxer” so stupidly rejects.
Seems like there are a lot of us like this Bak. Maybe we need minority status, and to be added as a protected group to the Hate Crimes legislation.
I know, let’s form a club!
And…
we need to be “accepted” on these trains so that we aren’t groped by men
LINK
Especially me! I’m approached by groping men on a daily basis…
Worked hard………right….
Now what was his name again….oh yeah, I remember now. Brigadier General Michael Walsh, but he probably didn’t work hard for his title.
He probably just did the same thing as the uberwench and simply collected Boxer tops…..collect the hole set and we’ll send you a square Peg. Hurry this offer won’t last long. If you order now, we’ll double your disgust and send you a freeloadin’ Barbarbeeyotch tool.
No known benefits to having one but if they were hunted, she’d register on the Boone and Crocket scale, as a classic bint.
You do NOT want to know the things I’ve called that lame excuse for a woman!
Have a look at the video I linked in the trackbacks above. It’s a humorous campaign spot for Chuck DeVore, who’s running for the Republican nomination to face Boxer in 2010. He’s a darned good Assemblyman and has been a stalwart in the battle against our tax-and-spend madness and our anti-energy policies. Click through to his website and, if you can, please consider giving Chuck a donation. He’s the first good candidate the Rs have come up with in years, and he has a real shot of beating Babs — but he’s up against stiff odds in this state. (She’s got all the money and press on her side.) Help us turn this state from Blue to Purple … for the children.
(Thus endeth the political commercial.
)
He called her Senator once, when she first asked him a direct question, from that point on she is ma’am. That is the requirement of protocol. Period. Full stop.
He should have smiled and politely apologized with yet another ma’am, and used ma’am until her eyeballs popped out.
all very predictable when it comes to liberal elites. why work to earn something such as respect when you can simply demand it. i hope she has a few more unhinged episodes like this– maybe it will bring her down. here’s hoping for a hard landing for that woman, ms boxer.
The worst thing about this whole display of unearned arrogance is that Boxer, both on the surface and in her “heart of hearts” (I’m not sure she has a heart but that’s another matter), believes that is “her” seat, not the seat of the representative of the people.
‘Course, the same could be said for most all the seats in Congress, especially the ones that’ve been held more than two terms by whatever professional politician, Democrat or Republican.
Stinkin’ snakes.