Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) passed away at 90 last week. She was one of the longest-serving members of the Senate, a liberal stalwart, though one you could have a conversation with despite her political leanings being firmly entrenched on the Left. She had her moments, too, shooting inside the ship, like when she told school kids why she wasn’t going along with the Green New Deal. Feinstein had handily won re-election in what would be her final campaign. It was a funny moment, though one of her last, as her mental health deteriorated.
What’s gross about all the Democrats who eulogized her was the rank hypocrisy: these were the same folks who wanted to push her off the Hill. The California liberal had been out of DC for months due to a nasty shingles infection, which left her with partial facial paralysis. She was clogging up the confirmation pipeline for numerous Biden judicial nominees. They also felt that she was too old, and her mental and physical state prevented her from doing her job.
The Left had to be careful as the same argument against Feinstein could be redirected at Joe Biden. The press also didn’t shy away from it, noting the explicit sexism ingrained in the attacks against the late senator in her final months, but added it was for the greater good that Ms. Feinstein vacate her position in the Senate.
Washington Post columnist and Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen made sure to remind everyone about this when news of the senator’s passing broke:
Fox News' Marc Thiessen blasts Chuck Schumer's tribute to Dianne Feinstein because Democrats tried to convince her to retire in recent months
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) September 29, 2023
"She did so much for the Democratic Party and women in politics, and to have such treatment of her in her final months was shameful." pic.twitter.com/Qo2ZrjKol3
The old saying used to be that Democrats only loved Republicans when they died, with George H.W. Bush and John McCain as prime examples. But I guess Democrats who got in the way count as well. Feinstein was also unceremoniously removed as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee for not doing enough to derail the nomination of the impeccably qualified Amy Coney Barrett in 2020.
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