Diane Feinstein has passed. How sad that after a trailblazing career like she had, that my first thought has to be “oh, no, what about the Judiciary Committee?”
From the office of Senator Dianne Feinstein: pic.twitter.com/rvcAmVk8O0
— Senator Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) September 29, 2023
click on the statement to embiggen for easier reading.
Open thread.
Update: I was about to put a fundraising post for our two initial VA delegate candidates when I heard the news about Diane Feinstein. I imagine Diane Feinstein will take up most of the oxygen, so I’ll save the post for later.
But in case anyone wants to take their angst about what will happen now with Judiciary, and use that for good in Viginia, the thermometer is in the sidebar (at the top) and I’ll include the thermometer here, as well.
Joey Maloney
So, what about the Judiciary committee? Can Moscow Mitch prevent the appointment of another Democrat? Or does whoever Newsom appoints to fill the seat until 2024 inherit her committee placements? Or what?
WaterGirl
@Joey Maloney: That is the million dollar question.
kindness
Let’s hope Gavin Newsom chooses wisely as to whom he names to replace DiFi.
Shalimar
@Joey Maloney: McConnell has said Republicans will filibuster any replacement on Judiciary, and rigging the courts with only far-right judges seems to be the only thing he actually cares about. But maybe a deal can be made in her memory now that she has passed away.
VeniceRiley
We need Sinema or Manchin for the nuclear option. Catastrophe.
But, as Californian, I am proud of her career achievements. I remember being astonished at how tall she was when she gave a speech at a work event I attended.
laura
I trust Governor Newsom to select a placeholder to replace the late Senior Senator, mindful of the candidates who are declared to run for her seat. She was a mixed bag as a Senator, but I’ll honor her for her strong stance on banning assault weapons.
wmd
My immediate thought was about her appointed successor. If one of the three main candidates is appointed they’d gain a huge advantage in the 2024 election.
My gut:
Adam appointed and then elected
Katie appointed, elected in a somewhat bruising battle
Barbara appointed. bruising battle and unknown who comes out of the jungle primary.
Newsome is likely to take the easy route I’d guess.
Luther M. Siler
It’ll be interesting to see if everybody stops talking about booting Menendez now.
Ocotillo
Sadly, this will only amplify the Biden is old stories and attacks.
Geminid
@wmd: Governor Newsome said that he won’t apooint any of the candidates running for Senator Feinstein’s seat. I think this was about 10 days ago.
WaterGirl
@wmd: Newsom originally said he would appoint a black woman as caretaker, which of course makes everyone think Barara Lee, but later said he would not appoint anyone who is running for the seat.
Ocotillo
I think Newsom at some point committed to appointing a black woman to the seat if it came open.
edited to add: as mostly a lurker who comments every now and then, I see Water Girl beat me to this.
laura
@wmd: shiny nickel wager he does not select one of the three candidates and that his selection agrees not to run.
laura
@Geminid: Still no e in Newsom.
Villago Delenda Est
She was no doubt a great. It is, however, a shame that she, like the Notorious RBG, stayed on too long. PBUH.
rikyrah
RIP 🙏🏽😢
Percysowner
@wmd: Newsome has said he will appoint a black woman and one who is not running for the role, so, unless Lee drops out, none of the current candidates will get appointed. Rightly so, Newsome would be putting his thumb on the election and showing favor if he appoints one of them. He’s doing a smart thing, although the promise to appoint a black woman has caused a bit of a stir.
Jackie
@Luther M. Siler: Makes one wonder if he’s behind her death… {pure snark!}
cmorenc
What if Schumer simply appoints Feinstein’s replacement to the Judiciary committee and tells McConnell to fuck off, intent of rule in question was to inhibit parties from switching out sitting (as in live, incumbent, serving) Senators on a committee, not to block appointing a replacement if a committee member becomes deceased. Are there then committee quorum rules that McConnell could exploit to direct R members of the Senate Judiciary committee to boycott any further meetings until the next session of the Senate post-2024 election? What role would the Senate parliamentarian play (as contrasted with Schumer or McConnell) in determining committee replacement protocol in case of deceased Senator?
Edmund dantes
Glad she is finally at peace. She’s been exploited for way too long by staffers and her mental deterioration was very very clear to see. It was elder abuse in many ways.
Geminid
@Luther M. Siler: Menendez can’t be booted. He can only be pressured to resign, and Menendez is a very stubborn man. His lawyers may try to use resignation as a bargaining chip in plea bargain negotiations; that might make him want to hang on even more.
Alison Rose
Man. This is sad. I know to some she has been a mixed bag, but she’s been an icon in California politics for longer than I’ve been alive. May her memory be for a blessing.
(Note trying to sound jerky, but could the post subject please be updated to correct the spelling of her name?)
RaflW
@WaterGirl: There’s no doubt Mitch will do the worst possible thing. This is why I think sh*t like the dress code is such b.s. Who the hell cares about hoodies and shorts when Mitch abuses the rules and systems to disgusting advantage?
He has to be spit-roasted if he blocks her successor. It’d have been nasty of him to block a committee assignment for her replacement if she’d stepped down. But it’s ghoulish and deeply disrespectful of the dead to block that seating now.
And that ghoulish disrespect needs to be blasted out — every damn day — till he relents.
Righteous Hazard
I’m one of Senator Feinstein’s constituents, and starting the day I watched her berate a bunch of activist kids back in 2019, I questioned her mental status. I feel bad about saying this today, but before I pay my respects, I have to say that I am angry at what the US Senate is, and how, as an institution, it preys upon all of us, Including the late Senator Feinstein.
I watched it get worse, and as someone who took in and cared for his parents in their final years, I became increasingly angry at the people around her. I called her office regularly since 2019, and I never got the impression that anyone there gave a solid shit about her, her constituents, or the country.
I’m sure her staff are all good people, and are sincerely in grief right now, but the moral incentives of the US Senate are all wrong, and it is fucked up that the well being of so many people are endangered by such a shitass institution.
RIP Diane Feinstein
Geminid
@laura: Thank you for the correction.I have been spelling Newsom right, but I wasn’t sure and copied the commenter’s spelling.
Daoud bin Daoud
My first thought upon hearing of Feinstein’s death was “huh, I wonder how this affects the 2024 election.” Sadly, she was a ghost at the end, her achievements largely forgotten.
cmorenc
@Geminid: @Luther M. Siler:
Exactly. Menendez is going to use whatever leverage his incumbency gives him through 2026 to exert counter-pressure against the pending charges against him. He’s not going to give up that advantage, which is the only one he has to lighten the jam he’s in, for nothing in return.
Dagaetch
Maybe I’m just being optimistic, but I don’t think the R’s will block the committee replacement. The fig leaf they were using to object in the spring was that it was temporary and an attempt to sideline a sitting Senator, neither of which would be the case now. This is just part of the normal course of Senate business, filling an empty seat, and while they are complete shitheels, there’s probably 10 Republicans who claim to ‘respect the traditions of the Senate’ enough to push it through…not least because the Dems would really go nuclear if they didn’t. My opinion anyway.
Cliosfanboy
Sadly, my first reaction was “Thank God.”
zhena gogolia
@Alison Rose: You have to use all caps
DIANNE FEINSTEIN
RaflW
@Dagaetch: I hope this is the path. Many of us grumble or mock the whole ‘sacred traditions of the senate’ kabuki, but there probably are enough Rs who still personally liked and served long enough with DiFi that they may just manage to do the absolute minimum to maintain traditional respect for process.
laura
@Geminid: 😚
geg6
@Luther M. Siler:
Why? He’s fucking crook. Newsom will appoint someone and we can go back to throwing out the crook. He’s a piece of shit and I see no reason to keep him whatsoever.
Geminid
@cmorenc: It will be an interesting process, although much of it will go on behind closed doors. I suspect it will end in Menendez resigning next year, but he’s a stubborn guy and may elect to go to trial.
It looks like prosecutors have Menendez wrapped up tight though.. He’ll face the possibility of dying in prison if he doesn’t make a deal.
FastEdD
I am saddened to hear of Senator Feinstein’s passing. To me, this isn’t the time to say unkind things about her legacy. She had a life story that embraced decades of service, and I choose to remember the good. We can resume arguing about the next Senator. Governor Newsom will choose wisely.
Mike in NC
Kevin McQuarthy is on TV crying crocodile tears for the next job he craves.
RaflW
@geg6: The second E in his name is silent. Very, totally silent.
eta: nevermind, it’s fixed
CaseyL
Dianne Feinstein was a giant. I understand and agree that she should have stepped down at some point in the last 6 years, but her history and accomplishments are legendary, and should be remembered as such.
$8 blue check mistermix
I don’t think I’ve written much complimentary about Feinstein here, and though I feel for her family and appreciate that she was a trailblazer at one time, her legacy is sadly going to be that she stayed far too long.
Her fellow San Franciscan Nancy Pelosi will be remembered as one of the greatest Speakers of the modern era — in part because she stepped away from being majority leader when it was time. That time comes for all of us, and unfortunately many politicians can’t or won’t recognize that.
laura
I wish she hadn’t run this last time, but I’m in agreement that her staff cared more for their sinecures than the good of the State or Senate. That said, I held my nose and voted for her because her challenger, Kevin DeLeon, was a no go for me. Since then, he’s made himself a scandalous shit mouth disgrace on the LA City Council.
tobie
We were burned so bad by what McConnell did with SCOTUS–not allowing Obama to appoint someone after Scalia’s death, then wasting no time to confirm a nominee after RBG’s death–that it’s hard not to expect the worst now. The Republican hunger for power has destroyed every last bit of decency in American public life, even the ability to honor the dead. It sucks to have to think about all this after a public servant has died, whose legacy in her later years may be mixed but who bravely stood up to the gun lobby.
RIP Senator Feinstein. Pound sand, Mitch.
sixthdoctor
Mark Joseph Stern has a thread with his opinion that Senate Rs will allow a replacement; I tried embedding the text, but hey! Twitter is broken and awful.
https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1707759191438262392
geg6
As for the departed senator, RIP. I won’t say anything critical of her today. I will say that I will never forget her strength and courage when Moscone and Milk were murdered. As a young woman, I was really struck by that at the time and admired her for many years for that alone.
HumboldtBlue
This is one of those times it’s best to keep it short and simple. It’ll be interesting to watch how it plays out.
narya
In a six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon way, I have a Feinstein story. An old coworker was in San Francisco for a conference or something, and called a hot, hard-to-get-into restaurant for a reservation. When asked for a name, she said “Feinstein,” because it IS her name–she had no trouble getting a reservation.
RIP DiFi; thank you for your decades of service.
Almost Retired
Wouldn’t want to be Newsom now. No matter what he does he’s going to piss off a lot of people. I don’t see him appointing Karen Bass (LA mayor). She’s new in the job and mostly rocking it so far. SF mayor London Breed seems like her star is falling and would probably not be content with a caretaker position. I’m going with Secretary of State Shirley Weber.
arrieve
I grew up in San Francisco, and lived across the street from her campaign headquarters when she first ran for the Board of Supervisors. I decided to write her a letter for a school assignment and she answered, which always made me think fondly of her though she absolutely did her best to tarnish that memory in the past several years. (the letter is long lost.)
One anecdote that does show what a trailblazer she was: It had always been the rule that whoever got the most votes in the election became president of the Board of Supervisors. Until she ran, and got the votes, and some of the other supervisors fought making her president because a woman had never held the role before. In San Francisco. In 1969.
laura
@geg6: I remember too. What could’ve been, but for the gun and an aggrieved white man.
Butch
@cmorenc: My understanding (from reading about it elsewhere) is that the rules for filling a vacancy differ from simply swapping out one senator for another and will be harder for McConnell to block.
Matt McIrvin
@Dagaetch: They will block. Democrats respect institutional traditions, Republicans just want to win. And if they can stop Biden from appointing any more judges, they win, huge. It brings one of Biden’s biggest accomplishments to a dead stop.
laura
@Almost Retired: My respect for Dr. Shirley Weber is boundless. Best History teacher I ever had. She’s a great Secretay of State. I’d prefer she stays in her current Office, but her daughter would make a good interim Senator.
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: Of course. I never noticed that she had 2 Ns in her first name.
Almost Retired
@laura: That’s cool! Where was she teaching?
JWR
Just heard on CBS that after the other night’s debate disaster, there are now more and far more serious efforts to recruit Glenn Youngkin into the GOP primary. Apparently, right wing billionaires aren’t happy with the current lineup. So sad for them. :(
tobie
I just read that Feinstein was in the Senate yesterday for a vote. (She voted.)
There’s lots of anger directed at her staff in this thread. Maybe they encouraged her to stay, maybe they didn’t. I don’t know.
But I do know that Mitch McConnell made it impossible for her to step down as he wouldn’t allow a replacement for her to be appointed on the judiciary committee.
That was evil. And he and his party should be blamed.
Central Planning
@Dagaetch:
Wanna bet?
New Deal democrat
Something I learned recently on one of those True Crime networks:
In the late 1970s, police made some important discoveries about the M.O. of one of the serial killers operating in the Bay Area at that time. They briefed the then-Mayor Feinstein, who promptly called a press conference and blurted it all out.
The serial killer immediately changed his M.O. as he murdered the next few victims.
kindness
I’m no Kreskin, but I see MoscowMitch trying to sandbag naming a new Democratic Senator to the Judiciary Committee. I also see the Senate telling Mitch to go fuck himself. Of course Simena will be on Mitch’s side, Manchin will be on the Democrat’s side, and Kamela Harris will vote breaking the tie.
HumboldtBlue
@tobie:
She ran for re-election when her health and mental state were clearly and evidently in decline. Don’t blame the GOP for that.
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: Thank you! It is probably uncommon compared to the usual. I have a friend name Dianna and they and I have commiserated many times about our names being spelled wrong :P
Alison Rose
Re her replacement:
I agree Weber is probably most likely, and I’d be happy to see her there. I suppose Malia Cohen is also a possibility. She’s currently the Controller, and is a former SF Supervisor. Though she also worked for Newsom as mayor, so maybe that might make it seem inappropriate to some, even though that was a long time ago.
I really hope Barbara Lee doesn’t make this some sort of attack on her. As Newsom has said, it would be massively unfair for him to name someone running for the seat to be the interim. It would essentially amount to an endorsement, which he’s not gonna do.
Ken
Given the management skills he’s shown over the past few months, he’ll need to spend a few years at the grill before being considered for that coveted McDonald’s Manager title.
Scout211
Reading the local news sites from the San Francisco and the Sacramento areas, it appears that Shirley Weber is the front runner. I approve.
Since the news sites, all their inside sources and I don’t actually make the appointment, we will have to wait to see what the governor decides. LOL
ETA: edited for clarity.
catclub
@Ocotillo:
So I think, in the tradition of Dick Cheney being the fourth branch of government. He should appoint Kamala Harris, while she still keeps her other job. She is not running for the seat.
tobie
@HumboldtBlue: I don’t recall that she was in decline in 2018, but whatever the case there was a jungle primary and then a run-off. Should we blame the voters of California for their choice?
My point was that McConnell and Co. made it impossible for her to resign when even she was ready to do so. To force someone to stay in office for party advantage is gross.
Perhaps because I lost my father this year, I am very aware of how much energy it takes for someone in poor health to get dressed and go out. The fact that Feinstein did what was necessary yesterday and went to the Senate to vote in spite of being on death’s door saddens me, as it saddened me that RBG in her last conscious moments had to dictate a note to McConnell asking him to hold off on confirming a replacement for her till the election, then in progress, was completed.
HumboldtBlue
Dark Brandon is at it again with another right hook of a political ad.
catclub
@Central Planning:
I bet there are more than ten who _claim to_.
and actually support them only when it is in their interest.
Steeplejack
@sixthdoctor:
Nitter version of the full thread.
Geminid
@tobie: Now that Senator Feinstein has passed there will be more reporting on the circumstances of her last year of service. I will wait for that to judge her staff.
People repeat angry charges of “elder abuse” and a self-interested staff so much other people have started accepting them as truths.
I am not so sure. When this controversy was being whipped up a few months ago I read a post by a former Senate staffer who said this is not how things work. That’s just one opinion but it was an informed one. And a lot of the critics never liked Feinstein to begin with because she is not “progressive” and partisan enough for them, and load their animus onto her staff.
Scout211
IIRC, she offered to temporarily step down from the judicial committee and McConnell blocked a temporary replacement for her seat on the committee. I don’t believe she offered to resign the committee or her senate seat.
But I do agree that McConnell will be a problem. That’s what he does. But with her death, I am assuming the Democrats do get to appoint a new permanent replacement on judiciary.
JWR
Yikes! Nancy Mace is on this oddball station, Real America’s Voice, talking to Steve Bannon. I thought one had to buy cable to access these goony toon freakshows. But Mace is talking about all the ways Joe Biden might have received his Hunter Payola. Was it in cash? Was it in gold bars? (Thanks, Menendez!) Damn, these people are so fucking weird
ETA PS. Most of my channels are turned off and the only reason I landed there was because I need new glasses. Honest! ;)
Righteous Hazard
@tobie: Her Senate staff, as human beings, deserve respect in this time if grief.
The US Senate is a terrible place. It turns elected public servants into de facto Oligarchs. It turns their staffs into the very worst kind of courtiers. Not because they are bad people, but because that is the damned job. I may be angry at her staff, but I honestly don’t know what could have been done differently, given what the Senate is.
However, some people are in fact worse than terrible institutions. Mitch McConnell, one of the worst of the shithead senate oligarchs, turned the deaths Scalia and RBG into political events that tore my country apart. I have no doubt he will attempt the same with DdFi’s death.
It is not my place to judge anyone, but if it were: Mitch McConnell deserves to roast in Hell.
tobie
@Scout211: I believe McConnell opposed not only a temporary replacement but any replacement if Feinstein rotated off the committee mid-session. That’s why she had to come back to DC in a wheelchair, on a private jet, and with a nurse.
rikyrah
Jennifer Truthful, Not Neutral Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) posted at 7:53 AM on Fri, Sep 29, 2023:
I will remember her as a rock after the horrible double murder in SF and fearless advocate for gun safety. She was a trailblazer. Her last years do not define a life of public service.
(https://x.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1707740402005024944?t=hdP2PAYC0amwf6prYlQ-Yw&s=03)
jonas
@Scout211: This was my understanding as well. As long as she didn’t *resign*, Repubs on the JC could refuse to vote on an interim replacement, and the committee was split 50-50. Now, however, the seat is free, so Schumer can basically put whomever he wants on it. Whether it will be the interim Senator from CA or another, I have no idea.
Geminid
@JWR: Nancy Mace probably has her eyes on Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat, which will likely be open in 2026. I look at most of what she says in that light.
rikyrah
The Recount (@therecount) posted at 7:47 AM on Fri, Sep 29, 2023:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has died at the age of 90.
“She was the first woman president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first woman mayor of San Francisco, and one of two of the first women elected to the U.S. Senate from California.”
https://t.co/X7EWQI2IF2 https://t.co/4oOYIk9SpC
(https://x.com/therecount/status/1707738763814695180?t=iEa_q9tUxTH9vAA3iqxSSg&s=03)
Frankensteinbeck
I submit the current budget crisis as evidence the national press is driven more by lazy stenography than obeying corporate masters. Coverage has overwhelmingly painted this as a Republican incompetence issue rather than trying to sugar coat it to make the Republican Party look good. That best fits the laziness explanation because Republicans are saying that too. These are the stories a stenographer would tell, not someone working to build up Republicans.
EDIT – What IS Fox saying about it? That would be the comparison point.
tobie
@Righteous Hazard: @Geminid: I think you both are right. We will learn a lot in the coming months not only about Feinstein’s staff but about the relationship between a Senator and his/her staff. All this is opaque to me. I wonder if we would even have to think in a healthier political climate.
Alison Rose
@rikyrah: I remember many years ago seeing the clip of her announcing the murder of Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Milk, and it was a gut-punch. You can tell she’s trying to keep it together and it must have been incredibly difficult. She was the one who found Milk’s body, and when she tried to feel for a pulse, she felt the bullet wound. I’m amazed she was even able to speak after that.
VFX Lurker
@HumboldtBlue:
The LA Times did not report any such decline when it endorsed her for reelection in 2018:
I have no regrets about voting for her twice in 2018. Once to ensure a Democrat would make it to the November election, and the second time to choose the better of the two candidates (Feinstein).
Folks forget that 31 candidates ran for Senate that year in an open primary, and a Nazi candidate polled second-place earlier that year. A Democratic candidate on the ballot in November 2018 was not guaranteed.
Ruckus
@tobie:
I’m pretty sure Feinstein stayed on her own. This was HER job and she took it seriously. Did she always do everything the way everyone wanted? No because that is of course impossible because everyone never agrees about everything. A large majority maybe, but never everyone. She did a good job and represented her state well. Did she stay too long? As a geezer myself (slightly younger than her) I can attest that many want to remain a cognizant, viable human as long as possible, but life often gets in the way of that. I believe we should allow the following generations to work for the future, as they quite likely have one that extends farther than ours, and they have to live with the results that most of us won’t, it is the way of life. But I also know that sitting around just waiting for that last day isn’t life, at least until that is all you can do. I know a number of folks older than her that refuse to stop and I fully understand that need to live until the end. She went out doing what she obviously loved, and given her life, I expected no less.
RaflW
@catclub: I can hear the screams of ‘voter fraud’ if she gets two votes, though (one as Senator and one as VP during ties).
RaflW
@HumboldtBlue: I love that the Biden team worked in a quick glimpse of sleaze-ball Mnuchin and his luxury-swaddled wife holding the sheet of dollar bills.
Ruckus
@Ken:
Ouch!
Of course you stated it perfectly.
Alison Rose
Sniffle:
(From Newsom)
jonas
@tobie: I was hanging out years ago with a guy from South Carolina when Strom Thurmond was still alive and asked him why the state kept sending this octo/nonagenarian back to the Senate every six years. His answer was: “His staff.” They basically ran the state. You needed a pothole on your street filled, you called Thurmond’s office. Business license delayed by red tape? You called Thurmond’s office. Needed some help getting your kid into The Citadel? Call Thurmond’s office.
I don’t think things work like that anymore, but these senators’ staff are quite powerful and influential behind the scenes in any case.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ruckus:
Your point is well made. “Stop doing the job you have passionately dedicated your life to and go wait to die” is a hard sell.
Alison Rose
Integrity:
M31
Death at the claw machine, “ISN’T HENRY KISSINGER EVEN IN THIS THING?!?!?”
Baud
@M31:
Your spite is his life force.
M31
@Baud:
shit, that fucker is going to live forever
jonas
@RaflW: I recall one of the first things Mnuchin did as Treasury Secretary was demand to be given a tour of the gold depository at Fort Knox. For some reason, like to double check if it was all really there or something. News flash: it was.
I know there have always been wacky conspiracy theories about the USBD really being empty or, being used to store the cryogenically frozen remains of JFK or something, so maybe that was it. In any case, the guy and his wife were really weird.
Burnspbesq
Is there any reason why Auntie Maxine couldn’t run to retake her House seat while serving in the Senate?
jonas
@catclub: I believe Pence challenged his subpoena from the Jan 6 committee by claiming that as president of the Senate approving the electoral count, he was sort of a Schroedinger’s politician, both VP and Senator simultaneously, and thus protected by the speech and debate clause. So why not?
Geminid
@jonas: When the 60-some Democratic Representatives elected in 2018 attended an orientation meeting, they were advised make active use of their powers to help constituents: “Be the Mayor of your district,” they were told.
This included having an active presence as well as attentive constituent services. I see this in news coverage of Representative Sharice Davids (KS-3). I rarely found reporting on Rep. Davids on national news sites but if I looked her up there were plenty of stories in local and state media about the her activities in her district. This is the case for all but the few “stars” in that talented class.
JWR
@Geminid:
I view everything Crazy Mace says as geared towards wooing whoever she’s talking to, as she did not too long ago when she said one thing on CNN, and then said the exact opposite on Fox. So if full on MAGA floats her voters boat, then that she will do, which is what politicians often do. It’s just that her dishonesty is so blaringly obvious that I’m almost embarrassed that she’s not embarrassed.
RaflW
@jonas: Until she started losing her grip, the big thing for states with long-term senators is seniority and thus committee assignments & chairs/ranking member status. (AFAIK only the House has the 6 year/3 term chairing limit).
SiubhanDuinne
@Ruckus:
Thank you for this. Beautifully said.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Righteous Hazard: I remember her becoming Mayor of San Francisco after George Moscone was murdered, along with Harvey Milk.
RaflW
@Geminid: It’d be interesting to see like a ProPublica or Mother Jones deep dive into how GOP House member constituent services may vary from Dems.
Someone like MN’s Emmer probably has a decent local-services team, because as much as I loathe him, he’s at least got a notion of how government works. But MTG? Boebert? The former maybe, since I think she’s not dumb, but rather has method-acted her way into believing her own crap. The latter is only interested in servicing one constituent at a time.
Ruckus
@Alison Rose:
We have a ways to go in this country to live up to the words of our founding fathers (I wonder where the founding mothers were…..) but we should never stop the process of the trip, at least giving all in the concept of a country for ALL of us, regardless of sex and sexual orientation, race, creed and abilities. We are all human beings, although some seem to think they are superior for some asinine reason. No group of over 330,000,000 people is ever going to agree on everything but this is a country that allows us to disagree without starting a war, and even that hasn’t always worked. That is a very different concept than a lot of humanity has been over it’s existence. We need to remember that we won’t always agree about everything and sometimes about anything. but we all exist and have to find that middle ground. We rely on people like Dianne Feinstein, who we will likely never ALWAYS agree with, as is human nature. But we have to be willing to work for what is best governing wise for ALL of us. It’s called compromise. We all have to do this on occasion, some of us still need to learn this not all that simple a concept.
rikyrah
@JWR:
And the way that the MSM pushes that she’s a ‘ normal’ Republican.
Bullshyt.
UncleEbeneezer
@rikyrah: I dunno. There’s also the idea that the real measure of a person is how they act when it matters most. I’ve lived in CA for over twenty years and she was always my Senator. The threat to Democracy and the tremendous backsliding we have seen on Women’s, LGBTQ, Voting Rights etc., all could have been possibly thwarted if Feinstein had just answered the call to eliminate the filibuster. Would it have been enough to get a Dem majority to change Senate rules? Who knows. But I will always be mad that great bills like the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, The Equality Act (codifying Federal LGBTQ protections), Codifying Roe and several others died, in part, because Feinstein simply refused to budge on the filibuster. She had a great career with many things to admire and be thankful for, but when everything was really on the line, she didn’t exactly step up, even for the things she had a reputation for caring about passionately.
RaflW
@Alison Rose: Interesting tidbit at the top of a 2022 New York Magazine (not The New Yorker) cover story (title includes ‘where did it all go wrong’ so not a hagiography) about Madame Senator:
“On election night in San Francisco in 1969, a 36-year-old woman who had run a campaign for the Board of Supervisors that featured the unconventional use of just her first name, Dianne, was waiting anxiously for results in a race she was not expected to win. The local media had barely covered her. She had earned the endorsement of only one elected official, the state assemblyman Willie Brown.”
Geminid
@JWR: Ambition can make liars out of a lot of people.
Nancy Mace beat one term Congressman Joe Cunningham in 2020. He won in 2018 after Mark Sanford, the incumbent, was knocked out by a radical in the primary. Cunningham was the first Democrat to hold the SC 1st CD since the party realignment of the 1970s.
So Mace had to beat a moderate in a reddish-purple district, and her rhetoric then created her image of a “moderate” conservative. Her district has since been redrawn to make it redder.
A Voting Rights Act lawsuit might cause the district to be redrawn again to make it more competitive. If so, Mace might adjust her rhetoric accordingly but she will remain a reliable vote for her caucus leaders.
p.a.
Condolences to those close to her.
I think many of national pols think of themselves as indispensable, but I’ll defer to DeGaulle and his “indespesable men/cemetaries” comment.
p.a.
Condolences to those close to her.
I think many national pols think of themselves as indispensable, but I’ll defer to DeGaulle and his “indespesable men/cemetaries” comment.
JWR
@rikyrah:
And there’s the problem in a nutshell: She is a “normal” Republican. ;)
lowtechcyclist
@catclub:
Interesting! I’m sure the Constitution never explicitly says that the VP can’t simultaneously be a member of Congress.
But would such a VP be able to both vote as a Senator, and break a 50-50 tie as well if one occurs?
UncleEbeneezer
@jonas: Feinstein is a perfect example of the fact that it is no longer like this. I know many organizer/activist groups who tried to get meetings with her or her staff over the past several years and rarely got any response. I got the impression that even her staff was actively avoiding feedback/input from her constituents.
Turgidson
@jonas:
Stupefying that he ended up being among the *least* horrifying of Hair Furor’s cabinet picks.
Alison Rose
Good God:
I knew her mother had had problems, but I’d never heard the details. Yikes.
Turgidson
@Burnspbesq:
As long as whatever legal troubles she might be dealing with due to her gruesome attempted murder of Michael Tracey don’t take up too much of her time.
tobie
@jonas: Interesting. Until 2020 I never called my Senator except regarding pending legislation. Then something happened and I really needed help. Senator Van Hollen’s staff did more for me than I ever expected. They were fantastic. This of course attests to their skill and how seriously they take their job, but it also also attests to Van Hollen’s priorities.
Ken
She might have to have a couple different baseball caps, to make it clear to the slower Senators which role she was playing at any one moment.
JWR
@UncleEbeneezer:
One of those times was when she gave Shrub the license to recklessly invade the wrong country. (Damn, just writing those last few words is surreal. The wrong fucking country and he never went to jail!) But yeah, her vote on that one really pissed me off, so much so that I voted for her opponent, whenever it was safe to do, natch. ;) I can’t forget how Barbara Boxer came through for us on that one and her office soon filled with roses, while DiFi got none. :(
NotMax
@lowtechcyclist
Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 (the Incompatibility Clause – emphasis mine).
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
IOW, she’s a person who’s willing to be an abomination in order to improve the odds of her advancing to the Senate.
Yeah, I think that light illuminates her quite clearly.
Righteous Hazard
@UncleEbeneezer: I can attest to this. I have been an inveterate congressperson-caller since the late 90s, so I have a baseline of how staffs respond.
Her staff was a bunker mentality in recent years. It wasn’t normal, at all. Angry, clipped, defensive, and above all, openly dismissive of constituent concerns. I know that on of the functions of staffs is to insulate members, but this was different.
Geminid
@p.a.: That’s an interesting statement coming from Charles DeGaulle. When France was in turmoil over the Algerian war, the French considered DeGaulle so indispensable they wrote a new constitution in order to get him to run for President. The 5th Republic blends a Parliamentary system with an American-style President who runs the executive branch.
MisterDancer
As a former Office Page for Sen. Thurmond who, decades later, had to call and get help from same? Yes. They didn’t just help my Mom because I worked for them as a teen, they did that for a LOT of people in this state.
And as much as the staff made fun of the…wilder letters and phone calls, they were dead serious when it came to helping people in the state.
Also: even when I was there, yeah, the staff ran the place.
Geminid
@Righteous Hazard: What is your appraisal of staff-responsiveness in the case of other elected officials? Was Feinstein’s an outlier or more the norm?
Fake Irishman
@Matt McIrvin:
Even if the GOP filibusters a new appointment to judiciary, it will not stop Biden from appointing any more judges: there are more than 30 that are awaiting a final vote on the floor of the Senate who are out of committee. Additionally it is likely that an evenly split committee will vote out a number of nominees with bipartisan support (this happens routinely already). So it would constrain more controversial nominees and slow down the process, but it won’t stop it.
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: Nicely done.
Righteous Hazard
@JWR: I remember being sad when Barabara Boxer hung up her cleats. She wasn’t perfect, but she was pretty goddamned good.
The Feinstein of the 60s and 70s, and 80s was pretty goddamned good. Occasionally, she was great.
We need to elect more good people. The problem of people not retiring at the right time will never go away. But if we elect enough good people, it is a far smaller problem.
JWR
@Righteous Hazard:
Well said.
trollhattan
Topic: Gavin Newsom is America’s second-most influential Democrat. Discuss.
WaterGirl
@RaflW:
ha!
Scout211
Yeah. I really was sad when Barbara Boxer retired. She was such a good Senator. But she was reviled by Republicans in California. Not that I cared. LOL. I loved her.
But Dianne Feinstein was considered by many Republicans here in the state to be an okay Democratic Senator. I had many people I knew over the years say things like, “Senator Feinstein is not a bad Senator, for a Democrat, but Boxer is horrible!”
It was great to have them both for so many years, though.
Mai Naem mobile
@Luther M. Siler: he isn’t on the Judiciary committee so that wouldn’t make a difference. They can’t stop an appointee from voting in the senate in general just in committee.
Scout211
I think you are just trolling here, trollhattan, but I guess you caught me.
My response: Getting the most attention does not equal being the most influential.
Alison Rose
@trollhattan: Hmm. I mean, I’d at least say 3rd, don’t want to throw shade at Kamala. But I’m also not sure how many other national Dems would get behind some of the things he pushes, because they have to stake out more centrist positions than he does. And there is still a tendency to underestimate him, partly for the same reason. But he’s certainly one of the most well-known and well-recognized.
Scout211
GMTA 😉
Righteous Hazard
@Geminid: An example: I am in CA-05, a solidly red district, currently McClintock, but always held by a GOP shithead. I call them anyway, and of course they spout talking points at me. But they aren’t a brick wall. They answer the phone, and don’t hang up me even when it becomes clear that I wouldn’t vote for their asshole even if he voted the way I wanted him to on the given issue of the call.
Since around 2020, Feinstein’s office often doesn’t answer calls, and when they do, is exactly like talking to a brick wall. I don’t even hear any talking points from them, not even democratic ones. Which is fucking stupid. And they hang up on me frequently, which I dont blame them for, but is still fucking stupid politically.
Alison Rose
@Scout211: Haha :) Part of it of course is that he sure ain’t hard to look at. But he’s also never been shy and relishes being outspoken and likes poking the bear when he can.
trollhattan
@Scout211:
Consider every appointment he has made beginning with the Harris senate seat, which triggered serial appointments to replace the various replacements. It’s quite the list!
MomSense
@Righteous Hazard:
If the activist kids you are talking about were the Sunrise Movement I’m going to cut her some slack on that. SM was not well run and their strategy of aggressive action towards elected Democrats was stupid. If they thought Feinstein was the obstacle to climate legislation they got it very very wrong. They also tried out hunger strikes. Didn’t work either.
They seem to be changing tactics which is a good thing. In that incident I blame her staff for letting them in with cameras. That was a meet with a staffer event no cameras or recording.
Ken
He doesn’t occupy nearly as much free real estate in the heads of Republicans as Biden (either Joe or Hunter), Harris, Obama, or AOC.
Alison Rose
@Ken: Maybe not all Repubs, but certainly DeSantis and Abbott.
PJ
Newsome doesn’t seem to have made much national impact so far. Schumer, Jeffries, AOC, hell, even Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, and Eric Swalwell (just to mention CA reps) have been much more influential (or at least gotten a lot more media attention) than Newsome in the last several years.
lowtechcyclist
@Scout211:
This is true.
He’s doing a very good job of raising his national profile, though, clearly with 2028 in mind. Bet Gretch runs too, and between them and MVP, it’s gonna be quite a primary contest.
JWR
@Scout211:
I seem to recall that DiFi was considered a “National Security” Dem, whatever the Hell that is. I think I always considered her a sort of Repub-lite Dem, by which I mean a “normal” Repub, back when there still existed such an animal.
trollhattan
@Ken: For sure, but influential and high public profile are two very different things.
Geminid
@MomSense: Adam Silverman wrote a post about that meeting and in his title he called the head of Justice Democrats a “lying shit bird.” I remember it because I was studying up on the JDs and it was the first time I encountered this oddly-named “Balloon Juice” site.
Dr. Silverman contended that the version of the meeting Justice Democrats put out was selectively edited in order to put Feinstein in the worst possible light. A hit job, so to speak.
The Sunrise Movement was effectively a subsidiary of Justice Democrats and their parallel organization Brand New Congress. Like its sponsors, the Sunrise Movement’s first priority was to degrade the reputations of the Democratic Party’s more moderate members of Congress..
Al Rennick
Feinstein’s death in office underscores the need to adopt age limits for politicians. It’s obscene and absurd that anyone 90 years old should still be serving in Congress. The maximum age should be 80 years old.
JWR
@Alison Rose:
Yes, this! I was so impressed when he presided over a same-sex marriage, even after Prop 8 had passed. It’ll be interesting to hear what he has to say in his upcoming debate with DeSantis.
sab
@Ocotillo: It shouldn’t. She has obviously had dementia for years, well before this last term. Biden has no signs of dementia.
My favorite college roommate and childhood friend died of early onset Alzheimers in her 60s. Dementia hits people at different times and often passes other people by.
Geminid
@PJ: A lot of people are very Washington-centric and underrate the importance of stste politicians, who tend to be seen as minor leaguers. I think that is changing now.
SoupCatcher
I’m not comfortable with blaming the worker for not changing the job description.
We hired Senator Feinstein by voting for her. We chose not to try and recall her.
If the process is wrong, I feel we should change the process, not get angry at the worker for following it.
I am proud that California’s Senators were Boxer and Feinstein at the same time, and Harris and Feinstein at the same time.
sab
@JWR: My brother in CA is a RWNj who worked for Feinstein’s husband in a finance job. Brother was a Republican political activist, and had to be sneaky about his activism, because in her husband’s office Republicanism was a fireable offense.
Alison Rose
@Al Rennick: The issue for me with setting a maximum age is when does it kick in? Say someone is running for a Senate seat for a six-year term, and on Election Day they would be 79, turning 80 after being sworn in. Do they get to serve the full term? Are they required to retire on their 80th birthday? Because the latter would seem ridiculous and would lead to endless special partial-term elections. But the former would end up seeming unfair, and would really just mean that you have to be under 80 at election, whether by one day or 5 years and 11 months. And there is a vast spectrum of ability and health and fortitude at that age.
Having a minimum age requirement to run makes sense, because the idea is the person needs to have a certain amount of work and/or life experience to fulfill the role. But a maximum age gets into some very thorny issues. Plus…it would be politicians who would have to implement such a change, and they are, let’s say, unlikely to do so.
Chief Oshkosh
@Alison Rose: That’s a striking clip on many levels, including the reporting by the local news affiliate, which is head and shoulders above the crap I see for local affiliates in any US city these days.
trollhattan
@Al Rennick:
My go-to comparison is Feinstein and Boxer. Barbara bowed out still on top of her game leaving a legacy of a distinguished and productive career. Diane did Diane, which is to say it was all about her at the end (an end that lingered and lingered). Not even the CDP could do anything to halt that final ill-advised run.
Obviously a mandatory age cutoff will not, cannot ever happen. We’re as likely to ditch the two senators per state rule. Also, Nancy SMASH is a mere 83.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@tobie: IDK if that’s how it went down. My memory of the whole thing is spotty but my recollection is she refused to retire, not because Mitch was preventing a replacement but because she just didn’t want to. Whether she was competent, mentally, to make that decision or not I am in no position to judge but I think if she had full on retired he would have allowed the seat on the committee to be filled. She was basically on an extended leave of absence though, rather than retired, which gave him an out (which he of course took) to leave the seat open.
laura
@Almost Retired: Cal State Sacramento.
Geminid
@Alison Rose: I say, leave questions of age up to the voters.
trollhattan
@sab: Worked at an engineering firm Richard Blum owned in part. I was disappointed to learn not even that won us every federal contract we bid on. Hrrmph, what’s the point of political capital if you cant spend it!
Villago Delenda Est
@RaflW: The vile shit that was Representative Eric Cantor had notoriously terrible constituent service, which is one of the reasons a wackaloon MAGAt type took him out in a primary.
Villago Delenda Est
@sab: As it should be.
Righteous Hazard
@MomSense: I don’t doubt that the Sunrise Movement was poorly led. Orgs that use kids often are.
I also dont doubt that Feinstein’s staff fucked up. That happens too.
But after caring for my elderly parents in their last five years, that exchange was alarmingly familiar. Like DiFi, my parents were good and intelligent people. The first signal I got that something was wrong with them was that whenever something was happening that they didn’t completely understand, they picked a fight.
Setting aside the stupidity of the adults who put those kids in that room with her, go watch that video. Yes, those are dumb kids. But DiFi clearly didn’t have the capacity to understand what was going on, and picked a fight.
I hate saying all this. I am a shitbag for even talking about it today. We should be celebrating her life. I fucking hate the world that Mitch created.
Cliosfanboy
@Frankensteinbeck:
But it has to be done. We’ve all seen pro athletes stay one season too long, and it’s not only embarrassing to watch, it hurts the team. That applies to politicians and other leaders as well. I LOVED teaching college, but retired when I knew I was no longer bringing my A Game doing it full-time.
Gravenstone
@Burnspbesq: McConnel would likely stroke out if confronted with the prospect of Sen. Waters, even temporarily.
Tim in SF
I had the privilege of being a voting delegate at the 2018 California Democratic Convention in San Diego. We delegates banded together and voted against endorsing Feinstein for California Senate – the first time she’d ever been rebuked by the party in her long career. It was terrible embarrassment for her. Front page news up and down the state. And mine was part of the handful of votes that did it.
Long was the perception that Feinstein was the Susan Collins of the Democratic Party.
In the intervening years, getting fucked repeatedly by Manchin, I have a softer view of her.
Alison Rose
@Villago Delenda Est: Dang, I haven’t thought about that little twerp in a long time.
Baud
@Gravenstone:
That sounds like an endorsement.
Geminid
@Villago Delenda Est: That 2014 primary was somewhat of a turning point in Virginia Republican politics. I thought it was why Republican Representatives Scott Rigel (VA-2nd) and Robert Hurt (VA-5th) retired in 2016. Rigel was in his 50s and owned several auto dealerships in Tidewater. Hurt was 40-something and was a wealthy land developer. They did not say much about their reasons for retiring, but I figured they did not want to kiss Tea Party ass in order to stay in Congress.
Dave Brat, the professor who beat Cantor, lost to Abigail Spanberger in 2018. That same year Elaine Luria flipped the seat Rigel left.
FastEdD
In a just world, we would not have a system where one US Senator represents 40 million people, where another represents 700,000. This is not a just world. Arrrrgh.
JWR
My only complaint about Aaron Rupar’s video clips is that they’re too short.
...now I try to be amused
@JWR:
That would be the first primary Youngkin’s had to contest. Had there been a Virginia primary Youngkin wouldn’t have gotten the nomination for governor.
Alison Rose
@JWR: Dang. Fuck him up, Dianne!
Fair Economist
@SoupCatcher:
Correct thought but wrong on a technicality: Senators can’t be recalled, per the Constitution. But, yes, a recall of Feinstein would have never gotten off the ground were it even possible.
She was a trailblazer in many ways and I won’t forget that her beating Pete Wilson for a Senate seat in 92 was a critical point in CA shifting from a conservative Republican state to a liberal Democratic one.
In the abstract she should have retired earlier, but Senator De Leon would have been a bad thing so it’s a good thing she didn’t retire in 2018, and a midterm retirement might have created other problems. In any case, it’s water under the bridge.
Origuy
@SoupCatcher: There’s no way to recall members of Congress. It’s not in the Constitution
ETA Fair Economist beat me to it.
Paul in KY
@cmorenc: I don’t think Sen. Feinstein’s replacement has to go on Judiciary. Just some Democratic senator. There’s a bunch that would have more seniority than this replacement & would probably covet a seat on judiciary.
WaterGirl
@PJ: Newsom is definitely taking the fight to Republicans on a regular basis, and I appreciate it.
Jacel
@arrieve: My late mother was a friend of Diane Feinstein at that time — she was trained by Diane in a local Parliamentarians group and helped conduct Feinstein campaign in that first run at the San Francisco Board Of Supervisors.
Geminid
@…now I try to be amused: I am fairly certain Youngkin would have won a primary. He would have out-organized Snyder(?), the other businessman. Cox, the former House Speaker, voted for Medicare expansion and that was unacceptable to base Republicans. Youngkin’s 3rd rival was Amanda Chase. She is an idiot who could not win her relection primary this past June.
There is a lot of retrospective dunking on Youngkin, but at the time I saw how he was an attractive candidate. He was a very slick talker. He was also a hardworking and effective retail campaigner and that, along with his money, would have won the primary for him.
WaterGirl
@Righteous Hazard:
If that’s how you feel, you could save it for another day.
japa21
@WaterGirl:
Basic rule: If you start a sentence, “I hate to say this” stop right there.
wjca
More accurately, Wilson’s decision to run to the xenophobic right was the critical point in California shifting from a moderate Republican state to a safely Democratic one. And the California GOP shifting from being moderately conservative to total RWNJs.
The California population overall still isn’t all that wildly liberal. But given a choice, most of us consistently reject the Republican crazies.
Alison Rose
@wjca: Not wildly liberal outside of SF, Santa Cruz, and a few other spots. But largely center-left Dems who, as you say, reject the insanity from the right. I do like living in a state where registered Dems outnumber registered GOPers by 2 to 1.
hotshoe
@Steeplejack:
I’m not familiar with Mark Joseph Stern — the twitterer in that thread who claims that Rs can’t/won’t cause problems for Judiciary Committee replacement.
But I’m familiar with the type. Self-important white guy, thinks himself a serious intellect because he writes for Slate as well as Twits. I can tell that he’s an ass.
His three posts in that nitter thread:
So, Mr Stern, based solely upon your opinion that McConnell cannot/will not interfere with Dems replacing her on Judiciary — the rest of us unworthy peasants should stop reminding people that ReThugs have a history of breaking every norm in the Senate to deny Dems any possible advantage.
Fuck that noise, Mr Georgetown JD, you ass.
As one of the replies says, “Because guys like this [Stern] build a brand by being ‘insiders who know the real workings of Washington’ so it’s good to keep a track record of their bad takes.”
Yep.
Of course I will be happy if it turns out that the Thugs don’t interfere with Dems replacing Judiciary seat. But I wouldn’t bet on it. I wouldn’t bet on any R ever doing the right thing if there’s any possible way to do the wrong thing.
wjca
And independents are on pace to outnumber registered Republicans, if they haven’t already gone past. Although the fact that our open primaries mean that party registration only matters for Presidential primaries may be a factor.
Paul in KY
@Scout211: RIP Sen. Feinstein. A fine Democratic senator. I did think Sen. Boxer was a little more in my wheelhouse politically, though.
Kosh III
Senator Pelosi?
Senator Kathleen Brown?
Juju
@cmorenc: Menendez only has leverage if New Jersey doesn’t have a democratic governor. They have a democratic governor, so no leverage. Menendez should resign.
Paul in KY
@Gravenstone: All the more reason to have her in there, if only temporarily!
Geminid
@Juju: Menendez’s leverage is that no one can make him resign. He can be impeached and convicted, but that’s it. He may have a little leverage with prosecutors on this score, but maybe not much.
Righteous Hazard
@WaterGirl: Agreed.
However, Elder Care in this country is badly fucked up, and DiFi’s situation, while unique in its extraordinarily harm to her and others, was in no other way unique.
How we care for the elderly in this country does severe harm to our elders and their caregivers. Because of the harm done to them, most caregivers don’t get to grieve.
So, just like with gun control and mass shootings, I dont believe in the “too soon” narrative. It is wrong to prioritize a grieving process that excludes victims.
So even though it makes me feel like shit, I talk about it.
Righteous Hazard
@japa21: That is not a very good “basic rule”.
For instance, people who are harmed by those they love NEVER feel good talking about it.
But if the rule works for you, that’s cool.
Juju
@Geminid: that’s true, but his colleagues can shun him the way Senator Fetterman has shunned him. Peer pressure can be very persuasive. I think when it becomes clear that he will lose his next primary, he might resign. This is certainly a wait and see situation.
Geminid
@Juju: I had not heard that Senator Fetterman has shunned Menendez, just that he’d called for him to resign. But if Menendez’s colleagues shun him too hard he can shun them back by not voting the way they might need him to.
I know some people are very anxious about Menendez but the way I see it, this is not an emergency. Menendez is on his way out and it is only a matter of when. I think he will be off the board by the time the New Jersey primary rolls around.
Martin
I wonder if Newsom has someone who would agree to not run in 2024 to appoint.
WaterGirl
@Martin: I suspect he does. I halfway expected him to announce someone today – surely he has a pick waiting in the wings – but of course the would have been disrespectful.
Monday or Tuesday, I expect.