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July 23, 2009

Boxer's Boxing Bollixes Cap and Trade

Ed Lasky
Senator Barbara Boxer -- fresh off incivility and insensitivity shown towards our military and towards African-American businessmen -- continues to cause self-inflicted damage by her abrasiveness. This time the victims are among her own kind: cap and trade (tax) proponents.

From Politico:

A big chunk of the House climate change bill is in the hands of Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer -- and some of its supporters are worried that she's not up to the task.

In private conversations, Senate staffers say that Boxer's abrasive personal style helped tank the climate bill that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and former Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) sponsored last year. And several recent embarrassing episodes involving the California Democrat have them worried about a repeat performance.

During a committee hearing in June, Boxer upbraided a brigadier general for calling her "Ma'am" rather than "Senator." During another hearing this month, Boxer found herself in a testy exchange with the CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, who accused her of "condescending" to him.

For some Democratic staffers, the incidents underscored the danger of having an outspoken partisan liberal in charge of making the kinds of compromises needed to get cap and trade through the Senate.

"One of the criticisms that comes down on Boxer a great deal is that she takes it to really a very personal level," said one Democratic staffer.

Added another Democratic aide: "People don't look at her as the person who's going to make a deal and bring both sides to the table. Her way is the only way." 

There's more.

Boxer claims her style revs up "her people".  She uses the criticism her confrontational and rude style prompts to send her supporters "letters" that say "help me" and raises millions of dollars to help her reelection race.

This is what happens when the Chairs of committees in a Democratic-dominated Congress hail from the left-wing of the party. They appeal to the more extreme, fanatical partisans (the type who run ads insulting General Petraeus and call for the heads of George Bush and Dick Cheney, for example). When partisan politicians use their power to poach from the public purse or appeal to the more emotional segments of their base, their responsibility to the nation as a whole is compromised.

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