When Condi met Boxer

What on earth?

Fox "News" is losing its mind over an exchange on Thursday between Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice.

While grilling Rice about the Bush administration's Iraq policy, Boxer said the following:

"Who pays the price?" Boxer asked Rice. "I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young. You're not going to pay a personal price, as I understand it, with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families ... not me, not you."

Well, you would think that Boxer had asked Rice how the weather has been on Fire Island lately.

And, judging by this Fox "News" story, everybody in the wingnuttosphere is shocked - SHOCKED - at the offensiveness of Boxer's statement.

The White House fired back Friday at Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer's verbal slap at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calling the California Democrat's caustic comments about Rice's family life "outrageous."

[...]

White House spokesman Tony Snow on Friday called Boxer's comments "outrageous."

"I don't know if she was intentionally that tacky, but I do think it's outrageous. Here you got a professional woman, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Barbara Boxer is sort of throwing little jabs because Condi doesn't have children, as if that means that she doesn't understand the concerns of parents. Great leap backward for feminism," Snow told FOX News Talk's Brian and The Judge.

[...]

One Vietnam War veteran — and recent American Legion national commander — who now has a son serving in Afghanistan said he was put off by Boxer's comments.

Thomas Bock, 59, of Aurora, Colo., said he heard about the exchange on local radio and thought, "Wow! What a terrible thing to say, that only those people that have family members in the military have a price to pay. This is our freedom, this is our county. And the sooner that we stand up and stand for our country, the sooner we'll be able to bring our troops home."

[...]

The Family Research Council, a group that promotes marriage and family, found Boxer's comments to be inexcusable and offensive, said Charmaine Yoest, a spokeswoman.

"I think it's offensive to the millions of Americans who don't have a direct relative serving overseas to suggest that somehow they're not connected to the men and women in our military who are putting their lives on the line," Yoest said.

I agree with John, at AMERICAblog. I think the intensity of the reaction has more to do with conservatives' own perceptions of Dr. Rice, than it has to do with Sen. Boxer's remarks.