In case you forgot, Barbara Boxer is a senator. The feisty California lawmaker felt the need to remind an Army brigadier general of that fact Tuesday during a hearing before her Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, where the military officer testifying had the apparent gall to call Boxer "ma'am." Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was testifying on the Louisiana coastal restoration process in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He began to answer one of Boxer's questions with "ma'am" when Boxer immediately cut him off. "You know, do me a favor," an irritated Boxer said. "Could say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am?'" "Yes, ma'am," Walsh interjected. "It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it, yes, thank you," she said. "Yes, senator," he responded. However, Walsh surely meant no disrespect, as military protocol advises that officers may use "sir" or "ma'am" when addressing anybody higher than them on the chain of command.
When Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2007, Sen. Boxer sometimes addressed Petraeus simply as "you" and sometimes addressed both as "gentlemen." Neither the general nor the ambassador complained.