After spending a few days preparing my varsity boys at basketball team camp at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, I return only to find that the world has not paused like I wished. Instead, the lunacy keeps coming furiously. Exhibit A: Barbara Boxer considers getting elected a major accomplishment.
by Michael Naragon
The following exchange between Senator Boxer and Brigadier General Michael Walsh took place this week:
“I worked so hard to get that title,” Boxer said as she publicly chastised the general for being polite. How hard has Ms. Boxer worked?
After graduating from Brooklyn College, she worked as a stock broker for three years. That concludes her time spent in the private sector. She edited a newspaper for three years before going into public service, starting out as a congressional aide before running for local office.
She then served as a Democratic delegate for California and used her contacts to become a congressional candidate, winning five straight elections to the House. In 1992, not content to restrain her lunacy to the House, she ran for Senate, winning in 1992, 1998, and 2004.
She will be up for election once again in 2010, and there is little doubt that the people of California, who apparently have become accustomed to incompetent leadership (i.e. Pelosi, Schwarzenegger, etc.), will send her back to Washington. So her “hard work” story is very similar to most politicians in Washington these days: a seemingly endless pursuit of power that doesn’t really reward personal accomplishments or skills, unless you include kissing up, spending taxpayer money, and returning pork projects to one’s state.
How about Brigadier General Michael Walsh?
Both Boxer and Walsh were born in Brooklyn. Walsh went to school in New York, as well, though perhaps not as prestigious a school as Brooklyn College. He only managed to graduate from Polytechnic Institute of New York, gaining a degree in civil engineering. Walsh has also earned a master’s degree in construction management from the University of Florida, proving that he can succeed in places other than New York, California, and Washington. While in the military, he graduated from Engineer Officers Basic and Advanced Courses, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College.
After a lengthy history of moves up the military ladder, Walsh was named Commander for the Army Engineer Corps’ Gulf Region Division in Iraq, moving back to the States when he was appointed Commander of the Mississippi Valley Division, Vicksburg, MS, by then-President George W. Bush in 2008. His current job puts him in charge of a $7.5 billion public works program. The boundaries of the Mississippi Valley Division extend from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, include portions of 12 states, and encompass 370,000 square miles.
He also was named Commander of Task Force Hope.
TF Hope is the designation given to the Corps’ effort in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s national response plan to Hurricane Katrina. Engaging more than 3,800 personnel at its peak, TF Hope was among the largest disaster recovery operations in the history of the Corps of Engineers.
Comparing the two, it’s easy to see why Ms. Boxer might be intimidated by Brig. Gen. Walsh’s expertise and knowledge, two qualities lacking in nearly every Washington politician. Given her boorish nature, it’s also understandable why the “honorable” Senator Boxer would be uncomfortable being called “ma’am.” Knowing her California constituency, she probably also feared it may cause some bad feelings if she allowed this… this man to call her by a gender-specific title.
Perhaps on Capitol Hill, being a Senator is a big deal. Those serving in the buildings there certainly strut enough to make one believe this is the case.
But in every other corner of the United States, when she is compared to someone like Walsh–someone who has actually accomplished things in a competitive environment, Boxer comes off as a pretentious, paranoid, pathetic woman who clings to the trappings of power like a bloated piglet, sucking desperately at the teat of political authority.
14 Comments
June 18, 2009 at 8:18 pm
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June 19, 2009 at 3:54 am
[...] Michael Naragon @ The Constitutional Alamo writes: [...]
June 19, 2009 at 6:44 am
In the military that is how superior officers and civilian dignitaries are addressed. My support lies with the BGen.
This Senator needs to step off of her pedestal. It’s people like this…the ones who are self-absorbed and have no idea what many of us in America go through…who are screwing up this country.
She worked hard to get that title? How about the military officers who have to stay in for decades and serve in multiple tours just to get one star (much less two or more)? Give me a break. America needs to see the knuckleheads who “represent” us for who they are and what they do.
June 19, 2009 at 7:21 am
[...] A Response to Ms. Barbara Boxer… er, SENATOR Boxer. « The … [...]
June 19, 2009 at 4:43 pm
MISS BOXER YOU ARE A TYPICAL ARROGANT POLITICIAN WHO HAS BEEN IN WASHINGTON TOO LONG
June 19, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Mrs.Boxer is just another small-minded person who is enamoured with having obtained a little authority. She’s sort of like a typical Burger Joint manager.
June 19, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I can’t believe she is so snippy and arrogant.
The General was being polite and she completely lost it.
How can someone like this represent us in a sane and rational fashion?
June 19, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Great blog. Right to the point.
June 20, 2009 at 12:12 am
Should I scold anyone who doesn’t address me as “Doctor”? After all, I worked so hard to earn my PhD… How arrogant and pinheaded is this woman? It simply shows that she hates military and men in uniforms who protect liberty and freedom that she enjoys today. I am for term limits.
June 21, 2009 at 5:00 pm
HEY!
Give her a break. BACK OFF!
I mean after all she spend all that time in evil Senator school just to be called miss evil, or is she married? Poor guy!
June 25, 2009 at 1:35 pm
[...] Over at Constitutional Alamo, there’s a comparative presentation on “I worked so hard to get that title.” [...]
July 1, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Hey Maria,
I think it’s just that she hates men in general. I mean she’s from california for gosh sakes, you know…the granola state! it’s full of fruits nuts and flakes! Hey Boxer, get a clue Toots!
August 24, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Eli, please do not insult all of us Californians that way!
The state is split east/west – blue/red, with some counties being very blue and others being very red. Most everyone I know here in the Inland Empire cannot stand the woman. Boxer is from Marin Co., whose current Congresswoman is the head of the Socialist caucus (i.e. progressives).
Our Republican state legislators represent more voters, but the Democrats have rigged the districts to have a permanent legislative majority. The Democrats have really screwed up this state, taking it from #1 in Education down to about 48. We are still #1 in taxes and #1 in job losses. Way to go! If Boxer gets her way on the Carbon Tax and such, other states can catch up.
April 20, 2010 at 8:02 pm
[...] a “you want to step outside?” threat. Also interesting is the fact that he turned to Please-call-me-Senator Boxer and confirmed that she originally voted against the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” [...]