Globe: Senator Boxer packs a mean, partisan punch

[Tsiyu]

WASHINGTON -- Two Washington rituals occurred last week -- the presidential inauguration and the confirmation hearings of a high-profile nominee. Like solidly constructed plays, these D.C. dramas offer predictable thrills. But they are worth watching to see any new wrinkles the players can bring to their roles.

President Bush's manifesto of an inaugural address, calling for freedom with more repetition than Aretha Franklin, dominated the pageantry of Inauguration Day. Earlier in the week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings into Condoleezza Rice's nomination as secretary of state were marked by the sharp confrontation between Rice and Democrat Barbara Boxer of California, who seemed to take the whole committee by surprise with her forceful questioning.

Boxer's was the strongest voice in hearings that are usually dominated by the committee's long-serving foreign-policy grandees -- such as the Republican chairman, Richard G. Lugar of Indiana; ranking Democrat, Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware; and Democrat John F. Kerry of Massachusetts. Boxer served notice that, having just been elected to a third term with her highest percentage so far, she is eager to fill the role of the Senate's most outspoken Democratic partisan.

The fact that the new Democratic bullhorn hails from California -- rather than Massachusetts, New York, or some other corner of the Northeast -- signals just how much the Golden State has changed since the '70s and '80s, when it was often Republican territory. Bush's values-based conservatism may have solidified his party's base in the South and Sunbelt, but it handed the biggest state to the Democrats.

more:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/01/25/senator_boxer_packs_a_mean_partisan_punch/

[Radical Activist]

1. The worst partisanship

is the kind that will overlook Executive lies and abuses of power because it comes from a President of your own party. Republicans are the true partisans here.
I wrote that in a letter to the editor recently and I hope it is published.

[indepat]

3. The Republicans voting in lockstep to confirm Gonzales would be a

measure of their character IMHO and validate all contentions that their extreme partisanship will always come first, the welfare of our Republic be hanged.

[Oversea Visitor]

2. I can raise Boxer to new height with this

www.zonaeuropa.com/01467.htm

Wont like to be Condi if she see this before the hearing

[winston61]

4. Bravo to Boxer!

Since when is it unkind to call a liar a liar?