I’m not a Bush Admin. cheerleader by an means, but IMO that’s a pretty crass statement. Does Boxer have any justification to offer that as an agrument agaisnt Rice’s moral authority to promote the addition of more troops?
Our childrens lives are at the core of this.
I’m not seeing the *“unqualified to hold an opinion about the war” *bit?
Boxer didn’t phrase it very delicately, but the moral hazard issue she raises is not without merit. She is certainly qualified to hold an opinion about the war, but she is also passing some of its costs of her decisions on to others. This seems quite straightforward to me.
Oooh, burn!
I kind of understand where Boxer was coming from, but yes, it was nasty and the sort of thing that just slings boxes of ammo over to the Repubs. Only thing worse was if a male had said it to Rice.
I was pretty angry at some of her non-answers too, but I had to hand it to Rice for never losing her cool. Too bad she has had to defend such policies.
No, it’s her lack of a conscience that makes her unqualified to hold an opinion about the war. Boxer was out of line and should apologize, though. Low blows are the trademark of the other party.
If the draft was in force, she might have a point.
The US has an all volunteer force. Those “children” chose to serve.
There are justifiable concerns with the being in a war in Iraq, and how it is run. This aint one of them.
Well, she has had a hand in them from the get-go.
The thread title is inaccurate.
Boxer’s point was not “low” and was perfectly valid. The NY Posts’s accusation that Rice was “attacked for being a childless woman” is a complete lie as well.
This is exactly why this country should bring back the draft.
We out here in the hinterlands knew, the minute we saw our party would be in the majority in Washington, that it wouldn’t take us long to embarrass ourselves. Power is like whiskey; some can sip it, enjoy it and use it to a beneficial end, while others guzzle and lose their minds to it. Boxer is the latter.
I used to admire Condi Rice; she attended college here in Colorado and, as a black woman, was the epitome of the “American dream.” But I’m afraid she’s sold her soul to Karl Rove in order to keep her pass to the Oval Office.
Since when does Rice have any moral authority?
The thread title matches the way the Post would characterize Boxer’s comment, but it’s not accurate. Boxer said herself that she’s also not paying any price in the war, so it’s not wrong to say the same of Rice. It’s more than fair to discuss who pays the price for this war - I wish that had been given more attention four years ago, when most people were gung-ho about it.
They chose to do so with the understanding that their civilian leadership would abuse that choice and would not put them in harm’s way unless it was absolutely necessary.
This is just the manufactured conservative outrage of the day designed to do nothing but distract attention from real news.
Um…that should be “would NOT abuse that choice,” obviously. At least that would have been true a a few years ago. For anyone enlisting today, I was probably right the first time.
Wow… That’s some quality journalism right there. Taking:
I don’t see any insults or low-blows in there. I see her making a point that while this isn’t affecting either of their lives directly in terms of their family, it is affecting other people’s families. She didn’t slam Condi for not having kids or anything - just pointed out that since she doesn’t have anyone closely related at that age, she might not be intimate with the damage a protracted war can cause to a family. I really don’t like Barbara Boxer, but I despise this type of ‘journalism’ even more. They made a 3 page story out of a 10 second sound-bite.
That is the thing about opinions, you don’t have to be qualified to have one. I’m against the war but I think Boxer’s reasoning is complete bullshit. It would be like Rice saying that if you have kids you are unqualified to hold an opinion because you cannot think about the situation logically without your emotions getting involved.
The prices we have paid for this war, such as they are, are dwarfed by the price the Iraqis have paid. They lose more people per month than we’ve lost the entire war and they don’t have much a choice or chance, insofar as they haven’t abandoned their homes to flee to refugee camps in Jordan or Syria like 1.5 million of their countrymen.
Our complaining about such ‘noble sacrifice’ on our part is self centered and…well, the rest would be pit worthy.
Boxer didn’t say that Rice was unqualified to have an opinion. She said that neither she (Boxer) nor Rice had anything to LOSE. She didn’t say anything about Rice that she didn’t say first about herself, and she said NOTHING about qualifications for office or opinions.
Rice actually IS a shitty SoS, but not because she has no kids.
Moreover the bit I don’t get is this:
- Troops fighting in an immoral and devious war: Acting obediently under orders in conformity with their contract.
yet
- Troops dying in an overseas theatre of conflict: Selfless heroes.
Pretty much the entire OP, except from the direct quote of Boxer, is completely fabricated by the New York Post. Astro, please show me where in Boxer’s statements you find anything to support the conclusino that Boxer said that Rice’s childless status “makes her unqualified to hold an opinion about the war.”
Note that Boxer said the same thing about herself that she said about Rice.