Gosh, I feel so bad about this. Senator Feinstein has passed away at the age of 90. The poor woman literally worked until she died – she was still a sitting senator, although she was clearly in very poor health for the past year of her life. She didn’t know what she was doing in committee meetings or hearings, and she basically stayed in office so that President Biden could get judges confirmed in the Senate. The Feinstein family knew this was coming, and Sen. Feinstein had gotten her affairs in order in recent months.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the trailblazing Democratic power broker who served in the Senate for 30 years, died on Thursday night, according to a family member.
In recent years, Ms. Feinstein, 90, had suffered from frail health and memory issues that made it difficult for her to function alone and prompted calls for her to step down, which she consistently rejected.
Her condition had grown more acute over the past several months, after a bout with shingles that caused serious complications, including a case of encephalitis, and prompted her to begin using a wheelchair in the halls of the Capitol.
Ms. Feinstein’s long and very public decline shone a spotlight on the advanced age of members of Congress and particularly the Senate, where many continue to serve long after retirement age.
Imagine writing “Ms. Feinstein’s long and very public decline shone a spotlight on the advanced age of members of Congress” and not mentioning Mitch McConnell, that vile turtle who is literally having mini-strokes at every press conference. Should there be an age limit for senators? Eh. Of course there should be, but I just don’t think it will ever happen.
So, what happens now? I assume Governor Newsom will get to appoint the interim senator for Feinstein’s seat? There’s such a deep bench of quality California Democrats, but I’d love to see Newsom appoint a woman.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Getty and via Wikipedia.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmcWtoZoJze9KepZqsn6espbXAp6Wel5aatq%2B%2F056gp5eglsC0scOYmLCZqZSutavHnqmYoJ%2BisqCt05iroZ2PlrSmq86flnJoXw%3D%3D