At a campaign event over the weekend in Inglewood, California, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer seemingly equated being a politician to serving in the military –- and an Iraq War veteran supporting Boxer’s November opponent is calling on her to apologize.
“We know that if you have veterans in one place where they can befriend each other and talk to each other. You know when you’ve gone through similar things you need to share it. I don’t care whether you are a policeman or a fireman or a veteran or by chance a member of Congress,” the California senator said. “[Democratic Rep.] Maxine [Waters] and I could look at each other and roll our eyes. We know what we are up against. And it is hard for people who are not there to understand the pressure and the great things that go along with it and the tough things that go along with it.”
“Barbara Boxer’s disrespectful comments underscore just how out of touch she has become after her 28 years in Washington,“ Veterans for Carly Coalition Co-Chairman Lt. Commander Paul Chabot said in a press release, in response to Boxer’s comments. “Equating the experiences of members of Congress with those of brave soldiers who have fought to defend our country is just the latest example in a failed career marked by disrespect for our men and women in uniform.”
Chabot added, “Barbara Boxer owes an immediate apology to all members of America’s armed forces.”
Boxer is up for re-election in November, and is facing a tough challenge from Republican Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
When asked for comment, Boxer’s campaign manager, Rose Kapolczynski, responded, “Regardless of what she says now, Fiorina has to face the fact that when she was CEO of [Hewlett-Packard], HP equipment was sold to Iran, a state sponsor of terror, contrary to U.S. law.”
She continued, “If Carly Fiorina had been in the Senate, she would have turned her back on our veterans and our military by voting against legislation to fund numerous priorities for them, including the Westside Residence Hall II and numerous other critical military and veterans facilities in California.”
This is not the first time, however, that Boxer has made comments or taken actions that were considered offensive to those serving in the military. Remember, for instance, Sen. Boxer’s over-the-top rebuke of an Army brigadier general last year when he referred to her as “ma’am” during a committee hearing?
“You know, do me a favor,” a visibly annoyed Boxer told the general testifying before her committee. “Could you say ‘senator’ instead of ‘ma’am’? It’s just a thing. I worked hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it.”
Or remember when she was one of only 25 senators to vote against condemning Moveon.org’s 2007 borderline slanderous ad attacking Gen. David Petraeus? Under a headline that read “General Betray Us,” the full-page ad appeared in the New York Times and claimed that Petraeus was “cooking the books” on the Iraq surge.
