Boxer began by sniping at Bobby Jindal, saying she felt “really sorry for the people of Louisiana,” adding it would “a tragedy if some politician wants to make a point” and declines part of the stimulus funding, as Jindal has announced he would regarding the unemployment insurance portion that would saddle the state with a permanent tax increase.

Then it was on to Mika.  Apparently there’s a history between the two, as Boxer observed “Mika, you and I have kind of gotten into this when I was on the last time and I supported the stimulus and you said ‘throwing money at the problem doesn’t help.’”

Things then really began to heat up . . .

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: It’s very clear: the Democrats put through the plan that they wanted, throwing money at some of the problems –

BARBARA BOXER: Throwing money at problems [laughs derisively]?!

BRZEZINSKI: Some of the things in the plan I think you could argue didn’t necessarily need to be in there. But I guess that’s what happens in times like this. But I also worry that we’re kind of becoming a bail-out economy and we’re going to lose kind of that careful balance that our country is built on between success and failure, and then thriving in between the two.

BOXER: You sound very ideological this morning, if I might say.

And a bit later.

BOXER: I don’t think [the stimulus is] throwing money at a problem; I don’t think so at all. I think it was a very important plan of this president’s and it was the first step in this economic recovery and I feel a lot better about it than you do.  And we will see who is right and who is wrong.

BRZEZINSKI: Well, I don’t have feelings about it–I have questions about it. But Senator, I appreciate your coming on and answering them for me.