Posted on 06/18/2009 7:31:37 AM PDT by pissant
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) didn't like a Brigadier General calling her "ma'am" at an EPW hearing yesterday.
"Do me a favor," she said, "could say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am?' It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it, yes, thank you."
(video at link)
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Ha!
BINGO!
The General should have replied, “I’ll be happy to do so, Senaturd,” and see if she notices the difference.
Kinda like calling zer0 “O’Vomit.”
Sir and Ma’am are terms used by military members when speaking to officers of superior rank. A CDR doesn’t call an Ensign ‘Sir’, even though he is also an officer, he calls him ‘Mister’ because of the rank differential. A flag officer is, of course, never referred to as Mister even by a superior.
Using the rank of a superior officer in any sort of conversation is considered awkward. You would, generally, use the rank nomenclature at the beginning of a conversation, and possibly again at the end.
It is always proper to use rank when referring to a third party.
The General does not expect to be called by his rank every time someone speaks to him.
This is nothing more than a verbal power play by Senator Boxer in an attempt to assert herself. Sadly, she doesn’t recognize that in the military Ma’am is a term of respect reserved for use when addressing a superior who happens to be female.
Why Politico classifies this as “the lighter side of politics,” I don’t know. I found it sickening.
Liberal translation: "I won."
BTW, let's remind everyone how "hard" Boxer worked to get that title.
1. In 19992, Barbara Boxer was ahead of Bruce Herschensohn by one point with four days to go, and Herschensohn was rising in the finals days of polling. Then the Boxer campaign (via smear merchant Bob Mulholland) alleged that Herschenson "frequented" strip clubs in Los Angeles. Herschenson denied the "frequent" charge, saying he went once on a business trip, but the smear was enough to give Boxer a five-point win. Boxer subsequently "denounced" Mulholland's tactics, the CA Democrat Party "suspended" Mulholland, and then quietly reinstated him a few weeks later.
2. In 1998, Barbara Boxer was losing to Matt Fong (son of Secretary of State March Fong Eu) by double digits two weeks before the election. The Boxer campaign then leaked information that Fong once donated money to an anti-gay group, and Fong plummeted in the polls. Boxer squeaked by to win.
-PJ
As a California veteran I have written letters to both of my senators on this issue - I do not intend to hold my breath awaiting a reply...
The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and to give commands in such manner and such a tone of voice to inspire in the soldier no feeling but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or the other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them regard for himself, while he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect toward others, especially his inferiors, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.
(Major General John M. Schofield, in an address to the Corps of Cadets, August 11, 1879.)
The General was using what he understood to be the respectful and proper salutation. Boxer's response shows that she is ignorant of military protocol, egotistical, narcissistic, arrogant and graceless.
If I recall, I believe someone once asked that woman that looks like a 50 year Boxer at what time does an abortionist no longer have the right to abort a baby. She answered “after he leaves the hospital”
Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.
Margaret Thatcher
And just what did she do that required "hard work"?
Judging from her abysmal voting record not very much, and the reason she needs to be thrown out of office in 2010. What an arrogant and idiotic twit this woman is. Sarah Palin has more intelligence in her left big toe than Boxer has in her entire body.
Absolutely correct. I was going to use the queen example myself.
Boxer is idiotically confused between the meanings of “office” and “title,” on the one hand, and “term of address,” on the other. All because she has poor self-esteem.
Many would regard a witness’s repeated reference to a senator as “Senator” to be subtly condescending in tone. “Sir” and “ma’am” are neutral and respectful.
"...And we say grace and we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn..."
-PJ
I did, and the California Democrat Party should eternally burn in Hell for foisting this awful creature upon us.
“Senator” Boxer can lecture a Brigadier General after she’s served 25+ years in the military.
Not holding my breath on that one.
Thank you for your reminder at 66. I voted for Herschensohn and Fong (well, heck, I’ve voted GOP every time since I was 22 or so) and remember her “lucky” wins.
Boxer is testament to the stupidity of the California voters who return her to the Senate every 6 years. She’s the Queen of the Senate Women’s Knuckledragger Caucus, which includes Feinstein, Stabenow, Snowe, Collins, Landrieu, and #2 Moron Patty Murray. California is so intellectually barren that they had to elect two rich Jewish Bay Area women to amass enough brain cells to find Washington DC. They stuck the Senate’s dumbest member on the Environment Committee because she’s the only one who can mimic Al Gore’s propaganda with a straight face. This is the halfwit who says she opposes any limitations on abortion because she “doesn’t want to play God”.
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