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I've been paying attention to Dr. Rice's confirmation hearing as well.

And I'm watching a new champion for the left emerge in Congress. Barbara Boxer, who now has six more years before she's directly held accountable for these foolish actions after winning reelection in November, has made quite a bit of noise this month.

I won't go into it too much, since King, Barber and most of the right side of the blogosphere have ranted enough for all of us combined. However, I did want to place my five cents into it.

You see, it's events like these that make the blogosphere the premiere source of information in the world. You really can be an "instapundit". Unfortunately for Dr. Rice, she's being put on the spot, and can't take time to look at what Sen. Boxer and others have said on the very issue they've impuning her on.

CrushKerry was one of the first to expose Boxer's false claim of the content within the Iraqi War Resolution. It was far from being only or even primarily about weapons of mass destruction. Then again, she never knew it because she didn't read it.

Somehow she also forgotten that she admitted there were WMD's in Iraq a little more than two years ago. Here's what Sen. Boxer said in November 2002:

"Iraq made commitments after the Gulf War to completely dismantle all weapons of mass destruction, and unfortunately, Iraq has not lived up to its agreement."

For Democrats in Washington, history started yesterday, and anything before that only happened the way they "remember" it. Thus, they can't be held accountable for the things they said even a couple of weeks ago.

That's not the only thing. Boxer also distorted Rice's statement to Senator Voinovich in regards to the tsunami. Here's what Dr. Rice actually said:

VOINOVICH: I think what we're doing in the tsunami right now is wonderful. I think it's -- but we have got to show people that we love them, that we are for democracy, that we want them to enjoy the same thing but we haven't any hidden motives.

What are you planning on doing in that area to respond to that?

RICE: Senator, first of all, I do agree that the tsunami was a wonderful opportunity to show not just the U.S. government, but the heart of the American people. And I think it has paid great dividends for us.

Thus, Rice was responding to Voinovich's comment on how the federal government could eliminate any worries about "hidden motives". Not only did Boxer take the comment out of context - making it seem as if the Bush Administration was exploiting the situation - but she was responding to a question that Voinovich asked.

Boxer and her ilk aren't done yet. Even though the Senate Foreign Relations Panel approved her 16-2, they are trying to get it delayed until next week, as to not confirm her on the same day Bush is inaugurated for his second term.

Why? Simply out of spite. Democrats claim they want to debate Rice's confirmation for a few more hours. What good will come out of that? It makes no sense for Democrats to delay the obvious, especially since they are more than willing to confirm the cabinet positions of Mike Johanns, the new Agriculture Secretary, and Margaret Spellings, the new Education Secretary.

One day Democrats will learn that it's childish behavior like this that will continue to keep them in the minority of Congress and out of the White House.

UPDATE: Another lie was found by James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal's Best of the Web. Boxer claimed 25% of our servicemen that have been killed in Iraq were from California. She wasn't even halfway right; it's only 11.7%, according to Casualties.org.


	Jeremy Pierce January 20, 2005 07:39 PM PST Lying and not doing your homework are not the same offense. I agree that she was morally culpable for her false claims, but that doesn't mean they were lies. She may simply not have bothered to check what seemed obvious to her.


	Expert January 20, 2005 03:32 PM PST If Kerry or Boxer forgot what the resolution said or didn't read it, then who's fault is that? It isn't as if the resolution isn't a matter of the public record and thus inaccessible. Before Boxer tries to lecture someone on something, it would help for her to know what's she's talking about. I characterized it as a lie because she made a false statement when it was possible for her to know what the truth actually was. Laziness nor temporary amnesia are not viable excuses.


	Jeremy Pierce January 20, 2005 09:46 AM PST Why are you assuming she's lying? If she didn't read it, as you assert, then she might not really know. No one can complain about those on the left throwing accusations of lying if they do it themselves. She also may simply have forgotten what it said. When Kerry was making these complaints during the campaign, I think he had genuinely forgotten what Bush and the resolution had said, due to the MSM emphasis on WMD. I'm not sure she said she didn't read it. I looked to the statement that people have claimed to have said that. All it seems to say, as far as I can tell, is that some of her colleagues voted for it but that she didn't. She asked Condi if <i>she</i> had read it. She then said some of her colleagues had voted for, and it makes more sense to say that the 'I didn't' refers to the voting, not the reading.