Bloggers from the right have gotten their collective knickers in a twist over a moment from Wednesday’s Environment and Public Works committee hearing in which California Senator Barbara Boxer interrupted testimony by Brigadier General Michael Walsh to request he not refer to her as “ma’am.”
Boxer: You know, do me a favor. Could say ‘senator’ instead of ‘ma’am?
Walsh: Yes, ma’am.
Boxer: It’s just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I’d appreciate it, yes, thank you.
Boxer: Yes, senator.
Watch the exchange below:
The nerve! The gall! A woman who’s represented the state of California for three terms in the US Senate… requesting to be called Senator!?
The blogosphere has taken to pummeling the Senator over her request.
Jimmy Orr at the Christian Science Monitor blog claimed that “ma’am” was perfectly sufficient, and was “a term deemed appropriate by a Military Protocol guide.”
On MSNBC’s Hard Ball Chris Matthews presented the view that, “[t]here is a history, however… of male-female condescension in the U.S. Senate….That just might encourage a woman senator to insist on the title, senator.
He continued with the protocol claim, “That being said, an Army spokesman later today says “sir, ma’am, or senator” are all deemed appropriate under the protocol when addressing a U.S. Senator. That’s their story.”
The same claim was made over at a Fox News blog, by a Chuck Devore, Republic candidate for Boxer’s Senate seat, who has since repeated it in a YouTube ad he’s already managed to whip up.
Another blogger at Fox, Matt Sanchez, used the exchange as an opportunity to pull out all the sexist invective on the Senator: she “clawed her way out of the Marin County Board of Directors”; she’s “a small senator with a big chip on her shoulder” with a “prissy demeanor” who’s “really just guided by her latest mood swing.”
He, too, writes that, “‘Ma’am’ and ‘Sir’ are used to address all civilians regardless of rank and status.” But then, sarcastically, Sanchez remarks that the Senator isn’t even due that: “This type of respect is shown, by default, to all civilians, which made the term entirely inappropriate for a woman of Boxer’s accomplishments.”
As often the case, the media fails to do its homework: the Department of the Army Pamphlet 600–60 “A Guide to Protocol and Etiquette for Official Entertainment” (also appropriate for official hearings) published in 2001, specifies titles and forms of address for U.S. officials, as such:
United States Senator
Conversation Senator Doe or Senator
When the senator is a woman: Use Senator
Nowhere is it stated that “sir” or “ma’am” are appropriate ways for military personnel to address Senators.
Bottom line: Senator Boxer was well within her right to request she be referred to as “Senator” just as her male colleagues would be.
The attitude shown by that to-me putrid Boxer thing is indicative of the elite-class attitude possessed by so many of our elites towards the common folk.
Convinced that the USA is in the throes of class warfare, the spewing of that loathsome Boxer creature does not surprise me.
Our elites are a greater threat to the common folks (96 percent of Americans) freedoms and prosperity that all foreign terrorists combined.
The Females as Property Movement demands that the daffy dame Boxer remove herself from politics and henceforth engage in activities suitable for an emotion-laden illogical irrational typical female… for the good of society as well as for herself since the Boxer broad has proven her inability to operate adequately within adult society
@Obbop
Wow… hate much? Must be some sort of weird fetishist. To the re-education camp for you, Obbop.
Just came across this further clarification from someone who wrote the book on protocol:
Robert Hickey, who authored ” Honor & Respect: The Official Guide to Names, Titles, and Forms of Address” Published by The Protocol School of Washington discussed the the very topic, noting: