Sen. Boxer's Latest Petty Tirade

Sen. Barbara "Dumb as a Box of Rocks" Boxer is leading a one dummy crusade to block the federal judicial appointment of former Rep. James Rogan. Why? Rogan was the floor leader in the Clinton impeachment fight:

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), through a spokeswoman, now acknowledges she is blocking former Rep. James Rogan's (R-Calif.) nomination to the federal bench because of his role in impeaching former president Bill Clinton.

The Sleuth first touched on Rogan's nomination earlier this week in a piece about Rogan reaching out to the 42nd president. For that piece, Boxer declined to say whether the impeachment issue had anything to do with her opposition to Rogan's nomination to a federal judgeship. Her spokeswoman said Boxer is denying Rogan a hearing because of his record in Congress against abortion rights, cleaning up the environment, helping organized workers and stopping gun violence.

But it's all that, and much more. Boxer now admits: She's not about to help a man who led the impeachment crusade against Clinton, which she fervently fought on the Senate floor in 1998. Rogan, who is now a California state judge, was of one 13 House managers who tried Clinton's impeachment case (and lost) in the Senate.

Even if his cordial correspondence with Rogan over the years, some of it handwritten, means that Clinton himself is willing to forgive his impeacher, Boxer certainly isn't ready to reward Rogan with a plum lifetime judicial appointment.

"Congressman Rogan was one of the most enthusiastic backers of impeachment -- he thought President Clinton had committed high crimes and misdemeanors," says Boxer spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz. "The Senate certainly disagreed with that conclusion, as did Senator Boxer."

Lately Rogan and Clinton have forgiven all and in fact Rogan has provided a lot of information for the Clinton Library. One of Rogan's biggest supporters is former Clinton special counsel Lanny Davis. Unfortunately none of the Clintonoids seem to have the power to talk Boxer out of her tantrum.