While I was sitting in a panel discussion at Netroots Nation, it occurred to me that although I know the names of many of our Democratic leaders, I really wasn’t well versed on their biographies, over all stances or even their core beliefs. The idea for a diary series came to me fully formed. I figured that even if not a single other person were to read my diaries I would still personally benefit from a greater understanding of the people who are working to make a reality of my Democratic dream.
Here in California, I am blessed with an abundance of progressives, so much so that it was difficult to know where to start, but then I remembered that we have one of our own in a close fought battle for the Senate; none other than liberal champion Barbara Boxer.
Senator Boxer was born Barbara Levy in Kings County, New York on November 11, 1940. When her gender made it almost impossible to find a position in her chosen field as a stockbroker, she soon became a champion of women’s rights. After a stint as a journalist for Pacific Sun, she became a Congressional Aid and later moved on to the Board of Supervisors for Marin County, but of course that wasn’t the end of her political climb.
She was elected to the House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate. Her record speaks for itself in that she votes with her party 96.1 percent of the time. No blue dog Democrat lurking here!
Senator Boxer has been rated 100 percent by CAF, NAACP, NARAL, AFL-CIO, and APHA. She has also been rated 89 percent by LCV indicating a strong pro-environmental stance and 91 percent by NEA for her Pro-public education stance. In short she is strong on every liberal indicator.
This 4’11" powerhouse drives a hybrid and carries around a "Barbara Box" so that she can reach microphones, but don’t let her diminutive size fool anyone, Senator Boxer is a force to be reckoned with. She opposed the blank check for war against Iraq much as she had opposed the Viet Nam war many years before. In her own words:
The Levin resolution authorizes force as a part of a U.N. enforcement action to dismantle Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. But if the President wants to go it alone, he must come back to us.
I believe the people of my state expect me, on their behalf, to get my questions and their questions answered, not to engage in guesswork and above all not to abdicate my responsibility to the Executive Branch. If our Founders wanted the President, any President, to have the power to go to war, they would have said so.
I want to say unequivocally that the myriad of questions I have asked have not been answered and in good conscience, how can I vote to take our country to war alone – which is the authority the President wants – without allies and without the facts I need to fulfill my responsibilities to the people of California. America, at her best has been seen as a beacon of hope, not fear...an example not of might makes right but might backing right. And what is right at a time like this? Laying out a path for peace not just a path for war; trying everything to avoid the chaos and devastation to our own and to innocent civilians.
Barbara Boxer on the Blank Check for Iraq
Later, she called into question the confirmation of Condoleeza Rice because of what she believed were falsehoods and misdirection of the public leading up the war in Iraq. For me the most memorable part was when Senator Boxer said:
Well, with you in the lead role, Dr. Rice, we went into Iraq. I want to read you a paragraph that best expresses my views, and ask my staff if they would hold this up -- and I believe the views of millions of Californians and Americans. It was written by one of the world's experts on terrorism, Peter Bergen, five months ago. He wrote: "What we have done in Iraq is what bin Laden could not have hoped for in his wildest dreams: We invaded an oil-rich Muslim nation in the heart of the Middle East, the very type of imperial adventure bin Laden has long predicted was the U.S.'s long-term goal in the region. We deposed the secular socialist Saddam, whom bin Laden has long despised, ignited Sunni and Shi'a fundamentalist fervor in Iraq, and have now provoked a defensive jihad that has galvanized jihad- minded Muslims around the world. It's hard to imagine a set of policies better designed to sabotage the war on terror." This conclusion was reiterated last Thursday by the National Intelligence Council, the CIA director's think tank, which released a report saying that Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the training ground for the next generation of professionalized terrorists.
That's your own administration's CIA. NIC chairman Robert Hutchings said Iraq is, quote, "a magnet for international terrorist activity."
And this was not the case in '01. And I have great proof of it, including a State Department document that lists every country -- could you hold that up? -- in which al Qaeda operated prior to 9/11. And you can see the countries; no mention of Iraq. And this booklet was signed off on by the president of the United States, George W. Bush. It was put out by George Bush's State Department, and he signed it. There was no al Qaeda activity there -- no cells.
Boxer on the Rice Confirmation
I have volunteered to work for Senator Boxer during this election cycle because she is a legislator I can feel good about supporting. I don’t feel like I am choosing between the lesser of two evils and as icing on the cake of my day, it will drive my Republican Brother crazy. If he can’t stand her, then she must be a good Democrat.