January 18, 2007

StreetTalk

by Carol Rosen

Last week during Senate hearings regarding the president’s requested troop buildup in Iraq, California Sen. Barbara Boxer made a comment to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice regarding decisions to send more troops based on personal sacrifice. Do you feel Boxer’s comments were appropriate?
(Asked the Safeway on Almaden Expressway)

“I don’t think Boxer is attacking Rice’s family, she’s comparing and contrasting different kinds of families. The people out there [the soldiers] are paying a different price. Boxer isn’t making a personal attack; she’s just stating the facts.”

Adrienne Boughton, 26
Almaden
Communications coordinator for California Culinary Institute


“I don’t like Boxer. I think a lot of the things she says are not appropriate. I think her remark was insensitive. The soldiers are there because it is their choice. Our country is doing this to fight the terrorists. Without the additional troops, we’ll never know what difference it will make.”

Debbie Lynch, 40
Almaden
Homemaker


“I think it was a little bit insensitive. We all pay the price. As a country, we are all paying the price. This war should have been over a long time ago.”

Rachel Jobe, 37
Almaden
Homemaker


“My politics tell me that it’s not insensitive or inappropriate given the arena or context of the question. Everything needs to be open. She probably wasn’t necessarily trying to make it so personal, but to understand the point.”

Donna Gein-Logsdon, 43
Los Gatos
Marketing consultant


“I think Boxer is absolutely right. It’s absolutely appropriate because they’re making decisions for people who have no say so in it. On the other hand, I can also see that they joined up so they knew what they were getting into. The [Iraq] war is not correct. We’ve lost a lot of men and women because the president has a personal vendetta. There are too many reports that we never should have gone in there in the first place.”

Kerry Loper, 44
San Jose
Accountant


“I think her comments were appropriate; they were directed toward the people there [at the hearing]. They have no fear; the war is not an issue for them. It is an issue for lower or middle class people in this country. These people join the military to make more money. Boxer’s comment is appropriate because neither she nor Rice will be directly affected by the war. The upper classes aren’t joining the fighting, it’s the young marrieds, those kids who need the $40,000 signing bonus."

Billie Rivera
Almaden
Engineer


“I think her comment was appropriate because it applies to everyone who is going to Iraq. What if Rice was in that position and her own kids might have to go. Just because she’s single, it doesn’t mean she can’t put herself in the position of others who might have to go.”

Robert Dalton, 18
Almaden
Freshman at West Valley College


"I think it was inappropriate because it was way too personal.”

Darlene McGinnis
Almaden
Retired