For over a year, California Senator Dianne Feinstein appears to have rapidly been losing her cognition. Call it a mini Biden story. It started when staffers were quoted anonymously saying their boss was losing her faculties. She couldn’t remember what she was talking about mid conversation. She’d bring up an issue saying how she would like to vote, when she had just voted on that very issue a handful of hours before. There was some conversation that she’d still try to seek re-election. After Congresswoman Katie Porter announced her campaign for her seat, Feinstein soon announced that she would not be seeking re-election. Better late than never.
But now, her mental ability has declined so sharply that there are calls for her to resign from her seat immediately. Even a random placeholder would serve the state better, they feel, then someone who lacks the ability to make a reasoned decision. Now, she is battling shingles.
The 89 year old used her health predicament to ask that she be removed indefinitely from the powerful Judiciary Committee. She had already been missing from the house chamber for two weeks, with no sign of her returning to the floor. She puts the Dems in a pickle as they’ll have to get a senate vote approval for her to be temporarily or permanently replaced on the committee, or else the seat remains vacant, giving the GOP an edge. The Dems would need about 60 votes to get one of their own as a replacement, which would be highly unlikely.
Ro Khanna, a respected libertarian-leaning Democrat in Congress out of California, called on Feinstein to outright resign, which adds weight to the issue. He was close to jumping in the senate race himself, but decided against it. He said, “We need to put the country ahead of personal loyalty. While she has had a lifetime of public service, it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties. Not speaking out undermines our credibility as elected representatives of the people.”
Of course, leave it to the Ghost of Christmas Past, Nancy Pelosi, to call calls for Feinstein’s resignation “sexist” saying, “I don’t know what political agendas are at work that are going after Sen. Feinstein in that way. I’ve never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way.”
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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