Boxer Forgets Her Target Audience

Someone needs to remind Senator Barbara Boxer that despite Democratic success in the midterm elections, the Congress is almost evenly divided. That means politicians need to take extra care not to alienate moderate voters.

The New York Times reports on the reaction to Sen. Boxer's grilling of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice at yesterday's hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But instead of the story being reported as the Senate coming out in strong opposition to President Bush's Iraq Policy, the story focused on what exactly Boxer meant when she pointed out that because Rice had no children, she would not have to make any sacrifices to support the President's plan.

Some Democratic Senate staffers complained privately that Ms. Boxer’s exchange with Ms. Rice allowed the Bush administration to turn the tables on Iraq critics and sidestep the larger issue of the almost uniform opposition to the president’s new plan to send an additional 21,500 U.S. soldiers to Iraq.

The Democrats have shown themselves to be politically tone-deaf in the past, most recently with their over-the-top performance in the Confirmation Hearings of Judge Samuel Alito, in which the most reported-on moment was Mrs. Alito breaking down into tears from the accumulated assualt on her husband's character. The Democrats came across as bullies and Republicans such as South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham scored points for "coming to the rescue" of Mrs. Alito.

The public has little stomach for political bullying, and the moderates didn't elect a Democrat Congress to beat down the Republicans through personal attacks. I don't know what Boxer had in her mind when she made her foolish statements about Rice, but she would be wise to confine future criticisms of the Iraq Policy to the Iraq Policy.