Posted on 01/19/2005 9:22:59 PM PST by Pikamax
Boxer Is Loudest Voice of Opposition to Rice Nomination By CARL HULSE
ASHINGTON, Jan. 19 - While some Democrats are still struggling to find their voices after November's election losses, Senator Barbara Boxer of California is not among them.
Her full-throated and combative questioning of Condoleezza Rice during two days of hearings on her nomination to be secretary of state was a vivid illustration of the aggressive posture that Ms. Boxer, a 64-year-old liberal from Marin County, near San Francisco, brought back to Washington after rolling up a big margin of victory in her re-election to a third term.
Before casting one of two Democratic votes against Ms. Rice on the Foreign Relations Committee - the other was John Kerry's - Ms. Boxer explained bluntly why she had been so persistent in pressing the national security adviser on what Ms. Boxer portrayed as the administration's misleading and misguided rationale for the war in Iraq.
"The fact is we've lost so many lives over it," she said. "So if we do get a little testy on the point, and I admit to be so, it's because it continues day in and day out, and 25 percent of the dead are from California. We cannot forget. We cannot forget that."
Her jousting with Ms. Rice made her the most outspoken foe in the hearings. And it came after Ms. Boxer earlier this month joined a handful of House Democrats in forcing a debate on the legitimacy of the presidential electoral votes from Ohio; she was the only senator to vote to challenge Ohio's votes.
It is clear that she is interpreting her easy win in November, when she accumulated the third-largest number of votes in the nation, behind only the presidential contenders, as a mandate of her own.
"The people of California knew exactly what I stood for and said to me, 'Barbara, go and be a truth teller,' " she said in an interview after the hearings.
The exchanges between the two accomplished women - "she's a very good debater and I'm a pretty good debater, and that's interesting," the senator said - marked some of the most compelling moments during hearings that had a certain outcome, since Ms. Rice's confirmation was never in doubt.
Even so, the publicity that their sharp exchanges attracted may have helped persuade the Democrats to demand on Wednesday a debate on the nomination on the Senate floor as well, which would delay the confirmation vote until next week. Republicans privately accused her of grandstanding and playing to the party's left wing, but conceded that that was her prerogative. Supporters of Ms. Rice said Ms. Boxer had inflicted no damage on the nominee, who on Tuesday cautioned the senator about "impugning my integrity."
Democratic colleagues said they had no doubt about the Californian's sincerity.
"I don't always agree with her," said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, who has known Ms. Boxer since she was elected to the House in 1982. "But she is wholly genuine. She really believes what she says. She feels it strongly. She is not posturing."
Ms. Boxer has been source of political frustration for California Republicans, who have been unable to defeat her despite her liberal voting record and her prominent role as a legislative leader on protecting abortion rights. She rolled up a 20 percentage point win in November over the Republican challenger, Bill Jones, and accumulated just under seven million votes, the highest total ever for a senator.
"She said on election night that she was not going to be afraid to stand alone," said David Sandretti, her chief spokesman.
Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College and a former Republican operative in Washington, said: "She has always portrayed herself as a fighter and this is part of her personality. This aggressive critic of the powers that be is the role for which she was born."
Ms. Boxer's split with Dianne Feinstein, her fellow Democratic senator from California, on Ms. Rice's suitability to be secretary of state was stark: Ms. Feinstein introduced the nominee to the committee in laudatory terms.
"The people of California elected two separate senators," Ms. Boxer said. "We are not joined at the hip. We don't always agree."
Had she not been willing to take on Ms. Rice over the buildup to the war, Ms. Boxer said, she would not deserve her seat in the Senate. All she did, she said, was confront the nominee with her own words and the record.
"This is nothing personal," she said. "This is who I am."
A liberal zealot! Sorry America. I voted against this nut but to no avail.
full throated and empty headed
Boxer should stop combing her hair with a fire cracker.
I expected no less since she is trying to be Hillary running mate.
The longer i look at that pic the funnier it gets.
I had to stop looking to keep some composure
Great photo!
Just reading between the lines. ;)
Babs: "I fell asleep for six hours in the tanning booth!"
And that's exactly why she's so vile!
Delusional disorder, as defined in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), refers to a group of conditions in which the central feature is the presence of delusions in the absence of other symptomatology.
"Delusions are states of mind which, when they arise within our mental continuum, leave us disturbed, confused and unhappy.
"disturbed, confused and unhappy" -- sounds like a whacko lefty liberal.
Hey, at least you tried.
She already acts like a geriatric. She'll be in full-scale-Depends-mode in 2010.
Actually, the part of the headline after "Voice" is redundant.
Condi, "If you put your tooth under your pillow, Barbara, the Tooth Fairy will give you a dime."
Boxer, "A dime of what?"
Boxer is a full blown socialist. That's all you need to about her.
I would agree. My wife is nearing her age, and Karen dresses in business attire as she did for 30+ years in corporate Texaco America. Washing, shampooing, and combing, and brushing hair, was her regimine every morning.
I do not understand why libs cannot find a t-shirt, crotch underwear, toothpaste, shaving cream and a razor, to prepare for work.
I guess I'm just an old fashioned guy married to a lovely wife for 34+ years that believe in personal self respect, and convey this to our business / compatiates on our projects and careers.
While in the field, I have always been clean shaven while wearing jeans and work boots. Even when there were 200 ton cranes overhead and spotters in helos circling.
My Dad told me that you deliever based upon the situation.
When on the golf course, different outfit.
On the boat, different outfit.
Fortunately, or un, Kerry has had more options than I (have).
Go ahead Boxer...Make My Day!
"Boxer Is Loudest Voice of Opposition to Rice Nomination"
I have a feeling she's the loudest voice in any situation.
One of my favorite football quotes: (Howie Long, when asked about Deion Sanders' trash talking).....
"Little dogs bark the loudest."
(...and another annoying ping for the shap to deal with!)
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