Senator Barbara Boxer is under fire for comments she made during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee regarding proposed troop expansion in Iraq. Boxer pointed out that neither she nor Secretary of State Condolleezza Rice would "pay a price" for increased troop deaths in Iraq - Boxer because her kids and grandkids are the wrong age, and Rice because she's childless and unmarried.
Ironically, it is the political Right that has labeled Boxer's remarks a "low blow," inappropriately correlating Rice's marital/parental status and her inability to make proper policy choices regarding troop size in Iraq.
While I disagree with Boxer's approach, she raises an excellent point. Isn't it absolute nonsense to have those in power (with little or nothing to lose) making policy decisions that will increase the Iraqi and American death toll?
But neither childlessness nor marital status counts here. American military personnel in Iraq continues to be vastly overrepresented by poor and minority populations, only 5 of whom have parents serving in Congress or the Senate (and none with parents in the President's Cabinet). It's rare that anyone in power ever suffers personally because of our country's war mongering.
