Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is back. The longtime Democratic senator that every one of her colleagues wants to throw off the cliff—literally—has returned to the capital after a prolonged case of the shingles. She’s pushing 90 and has already announced that her time in public life will conclude in 2025. Her exceptional staff has kept the boat afloat and steady, but the California liberal’s mental health has been an open secret on the Hill: she can’t do the job anymore. Being a senior Senate Democrat, however, she’s a key vote on judicial nominations, which has been held up by her absence, sparking talk among her peers that she needs to go. It’s a discussion fraught with danger because every jab about her age and mental competency could easily be re-directed at Joe Biden, who has also lost more than a step and is aging poorly. Both politicians are too old to do their job, though Feinstein is probably the sharper mind on the intelligence front.
Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) returns to the Capitol for the first time since February 16th as she was recovering from a case of shingles —> pic.twitter.com/lDtPiUhDh4
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) May 10, 2023
Congressional Democrats want her gone to get a host of judicial nominees through. The 2024 Senate map for Democrats is abysmal. However, Republicans have blown riper political opportunities. The 2022 midterms are a recent and painful reminder of how the party fell short of having a tsunami year, partially due to lousy candidate selection. Yet, Democrats aren’t rolling the dice. They want these nominees confirmed. It’s the only thing Senate Democrats can do with a relatively high chance of success. Feinstein has been an obstacle. Is this sexism rearing its ugly head? Maybe, and now even media members admit that the longtime California senator could be a victim, but it’s for the good. The Sacramento Bee compared the treatment Feinstein is receiving to that of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-NC), who was 93 when he was re-elected to the US Senate in 1996 (via Sacramento Bee):
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently criticized calls for the U.S. Senate’s oldest and longest-serving member, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, to resign from office, saying “I’ve never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate.”
Four-term Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow has also said that calls for Feinstein to step down are rooted in sexism.
“I don’t recall it happening to other colleagues of mine who now are also in their late eighties and having various challenges,” Stabenow said.
They have a point.
[…]
By the time he retired, Thurmond was 100 years old, but it was well known that he should have left the Senate long before he did. One former Senate aide said that “for his last ten years, Strom Thurmond didn’t know if he was on foot or on horseback.”
American political history is full of men who were allowed to remain in elected office when they were no longer physically able or mentally competent to serve. These men generally were given the benefit of the doubt by their colleagues, the media and the public. But now Feinstein, a woman, is in the same position, and she has been subjected to intense scrutiny and pressure to step down.
[…]
…it’s also true that Feinstein, like some male predecessors, overstayed their welcome in office, to the lasting detriment of the American people.
So if Feinstein is the subject of intense scrutiny or public questioning in a way those men were not, it’s in part due to the presence of women and people of color in the Senate, which has helped challenge the status quo that sheltered powerful white men for far too long.
[…]
Feinstein’s physical return this week to the Senate — in a wheelchair pushed by an aide — after a long bout with shingles was hardly the resounding picture of health and competency her staff has been peddling to the media in her absence.
The median age of members of the U.S. Senate is 65, while the median age of the nation they serve is just 38.
It seems improbable at this time, however, that the senator will do the right thing and step down.
That final act of selfishness will undoubtedly mar what should have been a great legacy.
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The Left cannibalizing their own and saying the quiet part out loud will never get old. Even the headline is comical: “Is Dianne Feinstein the victim of sexism? Could be — but she still needs to go.”
So, sexism and misogyny aren’t good and must be called out unless it gets in the way of a political objective, like reshaping the judiciary. Republicans are not immune from this trend either, but they’re already viewed as Satan incarnate by the media. Now, with one of their own clogging the spot, they admit she’s a victim of everything the feminist Left combats, but in this case—it’s okay to bash Feinstein because they want judges confirmed.
It's a throwback to when feminists gave Bill Clinton a pass on his credible rape allegations because…he’s not a Republican. It’s why I chuckle when the left goes apoplectic about Trump’s alleged sexual harassment history because we all know if Slick Willy could run for a third term—these people would vote for him, rape and all.
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