by Mark Silva and updated
There's plenty of room for "yes-men'' in Washington.
Less for "yes ma'am.''
Sen. Barbara Boxer's suggestion to a ''Yes ma'amming'' general that she'd really rather be called "senator'' has raised a few hackles here.
"Could you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am?'' Boxer (D-Ca.) said the other day to Brigadier Gen. Michael Walsh, testifying at a hearing that she was chairing on the levees in New Orlean. "It's just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title. I'd appreciate it."
"Tes, ma'am,'' and "No ma'am,'' the general had been saying.
A blogger at FOXnews.com suggests that "Her highness'' had forgotten that she, herself, had addressed former Secretary of State Condi Rice in the same fashion.
"Few may remember that Boxer called Rice 'Madam" three different times during testimony while the secretary of state was appearing before Congress,'' Tommy DeSeno writes in "Justified Right.''
"Put aside that in England where the word originates, Madam is used to address the queen or a royal princess. Forget that in America, Madam is an appellation of respect used toward women. It is all still far below Her Liege Barbara Boxer.''
As for the senator, Boxer has no hard feelings.
"Sen. Boxer called Brig. Gen'l Walsh earlier today,'' said Zachary Coile, communications director for the senator. "They had a friendly conversation, expressed their respect for each other and talked about how they look forward to working together to protect our communities from natural disasters."
(Photo of Sen. Barbara Boxer announcing her candidacy for reelection in Sacramento in April by Rich Pedroncelli / AP)
Comments
Countdown to the Pavlov's dog like attacks on Senator Boxer from the right-wing lunatic fringe..
5...4...3...2..1 Ding Ding Ding!
Posted by: DrainYou | June 18, 2009 5:01 PM
As usual, a Democrat advocting the "do as I say, not as I do" mentality. I'm just shocked that she didn't somehow invoke global warming ... oops ... I mean climate change ... is that what they are still calling it? Or at least blame George Bush for something. Anyone ever asked why the levees were never improved upon in the 60's and 70s? Can you say "environmentalists"?
Posted by: Magnum | June 18, 2009 5:11 PM
Just more phony indignation from right-wingers trying to make something out of nothing.
It's all they know how to do.
Too bad they don't know how to govern.
Posted by: Ignatz | June 18, 2009 5:54 PM
Countdown to the Pavlov's dog like attacks on Senator Boxer from the right-wing lunatic fringe..
5...4...3...2..1 Ding Ding Ding!
Posted by: DrainYou | June 18, 2009 5:01 PM
Ding Dong- why would you think anyone would attack Boxers behaviour... not too defensive are you?
Posted by: heartburn | June 18, 2009 6:02 PM
I was curious, so I checked out more of the hearing at http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Choose&Hearing_id=c7026be1-802a-23ad-4fa3-4c8ed0b6d074. Was the General treating Sen. Boxer differently and more deferentially than the other senators? I randomly started at about 46.00 and ended around 1.09.00. In that time period Gen. Walsh addressed Sen. Vitter as "sir" 14 times and as "Senator" twice; he addressed Sen. Landrieu as "ma'am" 6 times and as "Senator" twice (and once as "sir" which he quickly corrected to "ma'am"). Neither Sens. Vitter nor Landrieu apparently had a problem with the polite and respectful way they were addressed. Why did Sen. Boxer?
Posted by: Joe | June 18, 2009 6:08 PM
"You." I'm sure the General worked very hard to earn his title...
Posted by: save a seal. club a rat. | June 18, 2009 6:29 PM
Petty, insecure woman
Posted by: John | June 18, 2009 6:36 PM
Move along, folks. There’s nothing to see here. Senator Boxer is a documented airhead. What she said is perfectly normal and in character. No need to wonder or worry.
Posted by: John W. | June 18, 2009 7:28 PM
Talk about contempt for the military. She found a chance to dress down a general on camera and she took it. Witch.
Posted by: John | June 18, 2009 7:28 PM
Army protocal says that they are to refer to senators as sir, ma'am or senator.
Check out my take, and stick around for more good content.
http://libertarianhumor.com/2009/06/18/boxer/
Posted by: BigEdsBlog | June 18, 2009 8:16 PM
Countdown to the Pavlov's dog like attacks on Senator Boxer from the right-wing lunatic fringe..
5...4...3...2..1 Ding Ding Ding!
Posted by: DrainYou | June 18, 2009 5:01 PM
Don't be a glass bowl, just because you're good at it.
Posted by: LunaticFringe | June 18, 2009 8:32 PM
Ms. Boxer and others apparently are unaware that "Ma'am" is the military address for women officers, just as "Sir" is for male officers. Boxer (forgive me for not saying "senator") is from here in the Bay Area (I live near San Francisco) and she is notoriously anti-military. She is also widely regarded here as a dolt.
Posted by: Madison | June 18, 2009 8:43 PM
The general won't call her the b-word, but I will. He was merely following respectful military protocol.
Boxer made herself look like a fool.
Posted by: Darlene | June 18, 2009 9:06 PM
If you're surprised by this exchange, you don't watch a lot of congressional testimony. It's not about what would be polite at a teabag party, or how the general was talking to the other senators.
Boxer was grilling a witness who wasn't coughing up the answers she wanted. So, she used a trick familiar to anyone who questions people for a living. She reminded the general who he was talking to. She made him stop and do it her way. These little power games are a simple but effective way to shift the momentum of a conversation.
It's amusing to see insecure men howling in vicarious indignation over Sen. Boxer's mild dominance display. If it throws people just reading it, it probably had the desired effect on the target.
It's all in the game, yo.
Posted by: Lindsay Beyerstein | June 18, 2009 9:12 PM
"Too bad they don't know how to govern." -lgnatz
...yeah, too bad the left doesn't know how to govern either. California is 24+ billion in debt. Great governing there...
Meanwhile, Texas runs a surplus, with NO income tax...
Posted by: John | June 18, 2009 9:14 PM
She's a joke, like most of the politicians from the land of fruits and nuts. Apparently she has had very little exposure to our military, With
her record, maybe she would have to worry what anyone calls her,
Posted by: Paul | June 18, 2009 10:01 PM
Another elite senator thinking she's something special.
Posted by: James Marcs | June 19, 2009 2:00 AM
To Lindsey Beyerstein,
Insecure men? What would happen if the opposite happened to a woman and the senator a man...and women made comments about it...are they all of a sudden insecure? It goes both ways. If there is a shred of negativity towards a woman, how many more women would be on board crying foul than men respectively? Think about that. So please don't belittle the opposite sex, because it's not about sex. It's about a Senator, in this case a woman, being a b*tc$ and power hungry
Posted by: Jane | June 19, 2009 2:24 AM
Okay, boys an girls, of the Party of No, call the person by her rank !! If she is a Senator, call her a Senator !! If Secretary Rice didn't want to be called Ma'am and told Senator Boxer that, I am certain Senator Boxer would have honored her wishes. What is wrong with these children of the Republican Party, making major issues of nonsense. Next, they will be insisting that the nightly comics apologize for cracking wise, about some of our double-talking politicians !! Imagine that !! I hope the Party of No finds some real issues to debate, instead of whining about how Senators wish to be addressed, or comics mocking, whining politicians !! Maybe, then, we can right the wrongs of the last two, stupid administration's blunders, and their serious incompetencies ?!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | June 19, 2009 8:48 AM
What a drama queen! She reminds me of the old silent movie actress "I'm ready for my close-up Mr. Demille" You're a politician lady, get over yourself!
Posted by: vla | June 19, 2009 9:00 AM
I must have missed Sen. Boxer's statement of support for Gov. Palin when she was trashed by Letterman.
Considering that Palin "worked so hard to get that title" I'm sure that Boxer went to bat for her.
As I said, I'm just sorry I missed it.
Posted by: Kathy | June 19, 2009 9:38 AM
Awww, the Tribune Senseless Sensors are at it again. Post after post from Loony Lefters can call conservatives "teabaggers," which is a sexually charged term. But call Babs Boxer a certain five-letter word, without using the word gets censored.
By the way, I think the real "teabaggers" are the media and how they grovel at the feet of their Messiah!
Posted by: John D | June 19, 2009 10:42 AM
Give it a rest, Babsy baby.
Posted by: ornery | June 19, 2009 10:47 AM
...yeah, too bad the left doesn't know how to govern either. California is 24+ billion in debt. Great governing there...
Meanwhile, Texas runs a surplus, with NO income tax...
Posted by: John | June 18, 2009 9:14 PM
Hmmm, let's see...the governor of California is a Republican AND the majority of the legislature are Republicans. Go talk to Grover Norquist and keep listening to druggy Limp-baugh.
Posted by: Doug R. | June 19, 2009 11:56 AM
I love what causes Republicans to get upset: jokes, something like this. Yet letting 9/11 happen was just fine by them. Odd.
Posted by: Paul | June 19, 2009 1:42 PM
Vote on whether or not Senator Boxer was rude to the General.
http://eyeonthelaw.blogspot.com/
Posted by: EyeontheLaw | June 19, 2009 4:36 PM
* * * * *
Posted by: Doug R. | June 19, 2009 11:56 AM
.
You are factually challenged, Doug.
.
The California Senate has twenty five 25 Democrats and 15 Republicans. The California Assembly has 51 Democrats and 29 Republicans.
.
See http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/sen-addresses.html for the Senate Roster.
.
See http://www.assembly.ca.gov/clerk/MEMBERINFORMATION/memberdir_1.asp for the Assembly Roster.
.
That’s a Democrat majority in both houses, Doug. You were saying?
.
Oh, and it’s most definitely been the Democrats in the California Legislature that have run up the bill. They always do.
Posted by: John W. | June 19, 2009 10:48 PM
Posted by: John D | June 19, 2009 10:42 AM
Agree, censored.
Posted by: PG | June 20, 2009 2:48 AM
Paul,
Get a grip. 9/11 was caused by the Clinton administration failing to treat the Cole and
East African embassy bombings as anything more than a crime. Also, the Assistant Atorney General under Janet Reno had a great hand in it by denying the CIA the right to talk to the FBI. Had they een able to do so 9/11 just may not have happened. During the rest of the Bush presidency we had no more strikes on our shores, precisely because Bush removed this "firewal" between the two agencies.l
Posted by: A. Reginald Watts | June 20, 2009 12:29 PM