It’s not her logic that bugs me since it’s just Chickenhawk 101, i.e., those who support the war but stand to suffer no personal loss from it must necessarily be indifferent to the human toll and therefore lack moral authority for their position. No hypocrisy to that, of course — not with Group Capt. Rick “Cobra” Ellensburg and the rest of the nutroots screaming eagles set to airdrop into Kabul.

What bugs me is the self-congratulation. If one of the most powerful pols from the most powerful state in the most powerful country on earth can assume the mantle of “speaking truth to power,” then what’s left of “power”? Is that just a synonym for “Bush” now? Or am I reading too much into what’s merely a tossed-off example of Boxer once again being a pandering moron?

Asked if her exchange with Rice was, as some suggest, a personal attack, Boxer insisted it was not.

“I spoke the truth to power,” she said. “Condi Rice is in the room when George Bush decides to send 20,000 more of our beautiful men and women into the middle of a civil war.

“And I’m not going to apologize for making an extremely clear point,” she said.

I await the day when a Democratic president defends one of his own statements as having spoken truth “to power.” Then we’ll be all the way through the looking glass.

Here’s what Condi had to say, FYI:

Rice, speaking Friday to Fox News, suggested the comments were unduly personal.

“I guess that means I don’t have kids. Was that the purpose of that?” Rice said. “Well, at the time I just found it a bit confusing, frankly. But in retrospect, gee, I thought single women had come further than that. That the only question is, ‘Are you making good decisions because you have kids?’ “

I leave you with this photo from Boxer’s senate page. Judging by the looks on their faces, I’m guessing these four aren’t part of the nutroots’ “first ones in, last ones out” Green Beret advance team into Kandahar.