Passing Exchange Becomes Political Flashpoint

The New York Times ^ | 1/13/2006 | HELENE COOPER and THOM SHANKER

[Utah Girl]

A passing exchange during a Senate hearing on Thursday turned into a political flashpoint overnight as Senator Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused one another of insensitivity in comments about motherhood and the war in Iraq.

In an interview with The New York Times on Friday, Ms. Rice suggested that Ms. Boxer had set back feminism by suggesting during the hearing that the childless Ms. Rice had paid no price in the Iraq war.

“I thought it was O.K. to be single,” Ms. Rice said. “I thought it was O.K. to not have children, and I thought you could still make good decisions on behalf of the country if you were single and didn’t have children.”

(snip)

In an interview on Friday, Senator Boxer said her comments had been misunderstood and were now being turned against her by the White House and by Republicans. “What I was trying to do in this exchange was to find common ground with Condi Rice,” she said. “My whole point was to focus on the military families who pay the price.”

Senator Boxer added: “I’m saying, she’s like me, we do not have families who are in the military. What they are doing is a really tortured way to attack a United States senator who voted against the war.”

[fat city]

Why is it, with a wholly sympathetic mass media, the Dems are always "misunderstood"?

[Wilhelm Tell]

Countering complaints of being insensitive, Barbara Boxer accused Ms. Rice of being "uppity" and suggested that Rice should "not speak unless spoken to" and should "learn to stay in her place."

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Boxer will be the gift that keeps on giving for the next two years - she's a blithering idiot and likes to prove it daily. Without cue cards or questions fed by staffers - she is stranded without a coherent thought.

[prov1813man]

Worse, and more to the point, how dare she pretend to speak "on behalf" of those who pay the price (our military and their families) when any survey of those very same people would generate an overwhelming supportive response for our President and a frustrated and angry response to the traitors in the dim/media establishment.

Speaking of "chutzpah".

[3_wheeler]

Dr. Rice chose to be single and childless. I thought that was ok. Didn't feminist icon Gloria Stienem once claim women don't need men?

[RunningWolf]

If it had been me there, what I would have laid into the Bxr B* with would probably have cost me my job.

Wolf

[Sergio]

I wonder if these people ever stopped to consider that those who do not have children in Iraq are more likely to make a logical judgment about it. That's the reason why we don't allow the victim's family members serve on a jury.

Well said!

[Sergio]

Worse, and more to the point, how dare she pretend to speak "on behalf" of those who pay the price (our military and their families) when any survey of those very same people would generate an overwhelming supportive response for our President and a frustrated and angry response to the traitors in the dim/media establishment.

Another money line. Very good point.

[ozzymandus]

"Passing exchange"??? Screw you, NYT! Boxer made a total ass of herself, and PO'd a lot of people.

[TChad]

I expected that the New York Times would somehow report this story incorrectly, since it hurts Democrats, and in fact they misquote Pelosi's statement to Condi:

You’re not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family.

What exactly is "an immediate family," and how would Condi pay a price with one? It's nonsensical.

Here is the Washington Times version of the quote:

You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, within immediate family.

That makes sense, and it shows more clearly why Condi was right to be offended.

The NYT, wrong as usual.

[RunningWolf]

Alright for Tony Snow standing up for Condi!

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

And now Barbara Boxer is playing the victim card.

Actually, I think the NYT is playing the victim card FOR her.

[OmegaMan]

I think its important to mention that a general statement about the impact of the war on soldiers and the soldiers families would be ok (even though it doesnt have anything to do with debating the facts about a war), but singling Rice out and making it personal about her is where Boxer went way over the line.

Boxer really hates Condi Rice for some reason. Its weird.

[Lancey Howard]

I know there are always freepers who argue with me about this and put Boxer at #2 or #3 just in the Senate, but I steadfastly maintain that Barbara Boxer is the single most stupid human being I have ever laid eyes on, hands down. Stupidity drips from the corners of her mouth.

[OldFriend]

Boxer's vile attack on Dr. Rice reminded me of Tom Lantos suggesting to a witness that he, too, ought to commit suicide.

There is something very black in the hearts of democrats. Something too ugly to contemplate.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

Boxer is one nasty and heartless woman. If she's supposedly so compassionate, why is she pro-choice?

[onyx]

Boxer is never a victim. She victimizes. Such a low down, dirty classless beotch. An all around embarrassment who should have never been elected to public office.

[Lee'sGhost]

Thank God for the new media. Five years ago this would have gone totally unreported. Bye, bye, old media.

[Samwise]

Hypocrite, thy name is liberal!

[OldFriend]

I called Boxer's office yesterday morning. Told the aide that I shared the senator's angquish about the lives lost in Iraq. Then I asked if senator shared that same anquish over the babies murdered during partial birth abortion.