Posted on 01/24/2005 11:55:01 AM PST by Mark
Boxer's anti-Rice bombast backfires
By Chris Weinkopf Columnist
Sunday, January 23, 2005 - With an air of resignation, Sen. Barbara Boxer began last week's headline-grabbing outburst at Condoleezza Rice's confirmation hearings with an all-too brief nod to reality. "You no doubt will be confirmed," the senator told the secretary of state-designate, thereby conceding that the ensuing performance would serve no practical purpose. Her harangue would be little more than an exercise in self-serving futility, one that would ultimately prove embarrassing - not for Rice, but for Boxer, her party and the state she represents.
Boxer's much-touted "grilling" - which consisted of more than 2,000 words, or nearly four single-spaced pages of written text, and took a full 12 minutes to deliver - didn't include a single question. This wasn't about subjecting a would-be Cabinet secretary to the customary scrutiny. It was about Boxer's attempt to become the public face of the Democratic Party's moonbat wing, an effort that began in earnest a week earlier, when she was the only U.S. senator to vote against certifying President Bush's Electoral College victory.
This was Boxer's moment to shine, or so she thought. That's why her staff hyped the planned attack to the media several days beforehand.
Boxer began her speech by blasting Rice for a remark that the devastating tsunami in South Asia "was a wonderful opportunity for us." No, the senator hectored, "The tsunami was one of the worst tragedies of our lifetime - one of the worst. I was very disappointed in your statement."
Now, no fair-minded person could have possibly concluded that Rice was speaking in favor of tsunamis. Her comment, that America's relief efforts may help to improve the nation's image in that part of the world, came in response to Ohio Sen. George Voinovich's remark that "I think what we're doing in the tsunami right now is wonderful." But Boxer took the phrase grotesquely out of context and assigned it the worst possible meaning - a tactic she would employ throughout the hearings.
So when Boxer accused Rice of saying, in the run-up to the liberation of Iraq, that Saddam Hussein would have nuclear weapons within a year, then later backtracking from that claim, it was up to Rice to politely set the record straight. No, Rice said, she had merely observed that it was possible - although the evidence was sketchy - that he could develop nukes within a year. After all, he had come perilously close once before.
And when Boxer disparaged Rice's credibility for saying al-Qaida's territory had shrunk since the beginning of the War on Terror, even though it now operates in more countries than before, Rice had to explain further: The terrorist network no longer has anywhere to operate freely, as it once did in Afghanistan, as well as in parts of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
All in all, Boxer's assault - her grand plot to demonstrate that Rice's mission "to sell this war overwhelmed (her) respect for the truth" - amounted to little more than a rather petty parsing of words. To make matters worse, when Rice asked Boxer to "refrain from impugning my integrity," Boxer fired back "I'm not" - this after repeatedly portraying the nominee as an unprincipled liar on national TV.
In stark contrast to Boxer's bluster was the genteel statement that fellow California Sen. Dianne Feinstein delivered when introducing Rice to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Feinstein, a Democrat representing the party's civil and responsible wing, acknowledged that she might not agree with Rice on all matters of policy, but could respect her intelligence and sincerity. "The problems we face abroad are complex and sizable," said Feinstein. "If Dr. Rice's past performance is any indication, though, we can rest easy."
Unlike Boxer, Feinstein appreciates that neither side of the aisle has a monopoly on goodwill or decent intentions, and that there's a world of difference between spirited debate and mean-spirited grandstanding.
In the end, among the bipartisan committee's 16 members, Boxer and only one other senator voted against Rice's confirmation. That one other senator, of course, was John Kerry.
This was no banner day for the Democrats. At a time when cooler heads in the party are trying to lay claim to moderation and move away from the Michael Moore crowd, the biggest Moore groupie in all the Senate was stealing the show and the publicity. And it would be hard to dismiss Boxer as the party's black sheep when the very man the party tried to put in the White House just two months earlier was there bah-ing beside her.
But at least Kerry has an excuse. He's embittered, defeated, and still can't figure out whom he needs to be to win. Boxer has no excuse, other than that she hails from a state that's far too tolerant of her foolishness, and where the Republican Party is far too inept to oust her from office.
Chris Weinkopf is the Daily News' editorial-page editor. Write to him by e-mail at chris.weinkopf@dailynews.com.
Ouch...said the Boxer.
Makes you wonder if Byrd took Boxer to an after-hours meeting at a "gentlemans" club he's been a secret member of since the 40s....
BOXER/CLINTON 08!!!
ty for the post...
Wishful thinking, didn't the inept Repubs kick Davis out of office.
No Boxer is the perfect face for the dems. I say keep her around, front row and center!
Just in case, Ms Boxer was one of the members of Congress who abused the House bank the most. Hey! Who needs to balance a checkbook when the taxpayers cover unlimited overdrafts? What a deal!
That comment was concerning Jones running against Boxer last November. He didn't even try and the state party was not effective.
Don't think she learned her lesson:
from the Wash Times...
Sen. Barbara Boxer says she is the real victim of last week's confirmation hearing for Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice, yet continued yesterday to question the national security adviser's honesty.
"She turned and attacked me," the California Democrat told CNN's "Late Edition" in describing the confrontation during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
The whole story is linked over on Drudge.
Public face of the "Moonbat Wing" of the Donk Party.
Good line!
"With an air of resignation, Sen. Barbara Boxer ...."
I've longed for years to see the word "resignation" in the same sentence with "Sen. Barbara Boxer." Unfortunately, this instance does not satisfy the desire.
Ouch... said the California Republican Committee!
Re: The Congressional banking scandal, if I remember correctly, the top 20 or 30 abusers were all Dems. When people try to claim that the GOP is just as corrupt as the Dems, especially since they've controlled Congress now for ten years, I pull out this dusty old nugget that most people have forgotten about as evidence of there being a difference.
You have to wonder why Boxer even went through the motions with this one.
Boxer between the "Sheets"?
No!
In fact the California Republican Party opposed the recall. It was only when it became obvious that the recall would succeed that they rushed in.
Even without Issa's million dollars the recall had enough signatures.
I'll say for the umpteenth time, the California Republican Party is run by Democrat moles. IMO.
To this day I do not believe that Gov. SchwarzenKennedy has thanked the hundreds of citizens that made the recall.
Feinswine the civil and responsible wing......
(Eddie Murphy laugh)... LoL....
I liked that comment. So many libs praise Boxer for intelligent 'questioning' of Rice.
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