Barbara Boxer hits Condi below the belt
While questioning Condoleezza Rice at yesterday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Barbara Boxer implied that Condi isn’t going to pay a personal price for sending more troops to Iraq because she is a single female: Now, the issue is who pays the price. Who pays the price? I’m not going to pay a personal ...
While questioning Condoleezza Rice at yesterday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Barbara Boxer implied that Condi isn't going to pay a personal price for sending more troops to Iraq because she is a single female:
While questioning Condoleezza Rice at yesterday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Sen. Barbara Boxer implied that Condi isn’t going to pay a personal price for sending more troops to Iraq because she is a single female:
Now, the issue is who pays the price. Who pays the price? I’m not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young. You’re not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families.”
There’s also some ugly foreshadowing here. Condi is going to increasingly face this question in the next few years if she has political ambitions. The fact that she isn’t married and has no children is a liability in American politics. It shouldn’t be, but it is. The second is Boxer’s insinuation that people without family members in the military may be less capable of critically judging a situation or more easily convinced to place troops in harm’s way. I’m no fan of the surge plan. But implying that because Condi doesn’t have a child of military age, she’s less qualified or incapable of comprehending the gravity of decisions is just hitting below the belt.
More from Foreign Policy

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak
Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage
The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine
The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

The Masterminds
Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.