Dianne Feinstein Faces Resign Calls After Missing 60 Senate Votes in 2023

[Herdfan]

Now Pelosi is suggesting people wanting Feinstein to resign are sexist. Some people just don’t know when they are contributing to making a worthy cause completely meaningless.

I wonder if her tune will change if DiFi misses and important vote and it doesn't pass.

Maybe she is afraid they will come after her next. I would consider it more ageism than sexism.

 

[Roller]

I wonder if her tune will change if DiFi misses and important vote and it doesn't pass.

Maybe she is afraid they will come after her next. I would consider it more ageism than sexism.

It shouldn't just be about age or sex, though men like Charles Grassley are probably more likely to get away with it than women like Dianne Feinstein. Regardless, I don't think there should be an absolute age limit — some individuals in their late 70s or early 80s are sharper and more capable than people decades younger, though they're the exception. I believe age is a problem for too many Senators and Congresspeople, including Feinstein.

Unfortunately, most officeholders are too tied to their positions and perks to readily give them up when they should, and prospective younger candidates don't want to challenge them because they know they'll probably be defeated. For their part, voters are content to keep putting an X next to a name they've known for decades without applying any due diligence.

As in many areas of human endeavor, it's better to quit when you're still not far from the top of your game than hang around and be remembered as someone who lingered way past their prime and became ineffective.

 

[Citysnaps]

some individuals in their late 70s or early 80s are sharper and more capable than people decades younger, though they're the exception.

Bernie Sanders, at 81, seems to be one of them.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I wonder if her tune will change if DiFi misses and important vote and it doesn't pass.

Maybe she is afraid they will come after her next. I would consider it more ageism than sexism.

I'm sure she's just defending her friend, but at some point, and I think this point has long passed, when people suggest she retire you shouldn't be offended by it or look for ulterior motives. Clearly there are people who would be more than happy to die while still in office. That doesn't mean you ignore the signs they can't do their job before that happens and just let them continue. This shouldn't even be controversial.

And before this is even said, from everything I've heard from insiders interviewed off the record she's well beyond what people like to question about the mental health of Biden or Trump. I've even heard she sometimes needs to get reintroduced to people she's already having a conversation with.

 

[Citysnaps]

Missing 60 of 82 votes (so far) in the Senate for 2023 tells me it's time for her to retire.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

It shouldn't just be about age or sex, though men like Charles Grassley are probably more likely to get away with it than women like Dianne Feinstein. Regardless, I don't think there should be an absolute age limit — some individuals in their late 70s or early 80s are sharper and more capable than people decades younger, though they're the exception. I believe age is a problem for too many Senators and Congresspeople, including Feinstein.

I don’t think it’s just about mental competence. At some point you are just out of touch with current problems and the window of “when I was a kid” disconnect is getting shorter and shorter. I’ve read countless accounts from people in their 20’s just starting out talking about how their parents got a lot more for a lot less work and money when they were around the same age and I don’t think anybody is denying that. Many are even more qualified for success than their parents were but in today’s world they don’t qualify for much in reality. Once somebody gets into their 70’s they’re even further away from today’s realities and what could or should be done about it.

 

[Alli]

If we set term limits, it would cease to be an issue.

 

[Herdfan]

If we set term limits, it would cease to be an issue.

This is a tough one for me.

On one hand, I love the idea of term limits. No one should turn it into a 30-40 year career because they lose the sense of how regular people live.

But I also fear that pushing experience out will create a power vacuum and allow unelected bureaucrats to gain more power, which is also not a good thing.

And on a side note, I would like to see the Office of the President to go to 1 6-year term. This would allow a President to have a full turnover of the Senate and 3 different Houses. Plus no running for reelection for the last year+ of their first term.

 

[Alli]

But I also fear that pushing experience out will create a power vacuum and allow unelected bureaucrats to gain more power, which is also not a good thing.

I’m not following here.

 

[Herdfan]

I’m not following here.

There is value in experience. Like them or not, people like Pelosi, McConnell, Schumer, McCarthy have loads of experience and knowledge. So they aren't as dependent on staff to know the ins and outs of government as someone newer would. Take a 1st or 2nd term Rep. They are going to listen to staff on things they don't know about because they don't have the experience. And we didn't elect the staff nor do we know who has been influencing the staff.

Kind of covered by both #'s 2 & 3.

Five reasons to oppose congressional term limits | Brookings

“Nothing renders government more unstable than a frequent change of the persons that administer it.” –Roger Sherman, open letter, 1788. Congressional term limits have long been argued to be an easy mechanism for improving the effectiveness of Congress and government at large. More specifically...

www.brookings.edu

 

[Roller]

I’m not following here.

I think he means that inexperienced office-holders will be more likely to be influenced by unelected officials and others, but IMO the risk imposed by politicians being in power for decades is greater.

I understand his point about presidents having to run for reelection as they approach the end of their first term, but I think six years is too long, given that about half the country will probably be dissatisfied with whoever it is. To use recent history as an example, I wouldn't have wanted Trump in office for two more years, just as Republicans would have been unhappy having Clinton for six years had she become president.

 

[Herdfan]

I think he means that inexperienced office-holders will be more likely to be influenced by unelected officials and others, but IMO the risk imposed by politicians being in power for decades is greater.

Exactly. Like I said, tough choice.

I understand his point about presidents having to run for reelection as they approach the end of their first term, but I think six years is too long, given that about half the country will probably be dissatisfied with whoever it is. To use recent history as an example, I wouldn't have wanted Trump in office for two more years, just as Republicans would have been unhappy having Clinton for six years had she become president.

But absent the pandemic, there was a good chance it would have been 4 more years. It's a trade off.

 

[Roller]

But absent the pandemic, there was a good chance it would have been 4 more years. It's a trade off.

I might be more inclined to agree with you if it weren’t for the Electoral College, an antiquated institution that has kept several Democratic candidates out of office, despite winning the popular vote. Votes by Republicans in blue states should have the same effect on the outcome as votes by Democrats in red states.

 

[Edd]

I might be more inclined to agree with you if it weren’t for the Electoral College, an antiquated institution that has kept several Democratic candidates out of office, despite winning the popular vote. Votes by Republicans in blue states should have the same effect on the outcome as votes by Democrats in red states.

Just wanted to highlight this. It’s a fucking problem.

 

[Herdfan]

I might be more inclined to agree with you if it weren’t for the Electoral College, an antiquated institution

Just wanted to highlight this. It’s a fucking problem.

Good thing the antiquated document that mandates the EC provides a way to change it.

 

[Roller]

Good thing the antiquated document that mandates the EC provides a way to change it.

There is a way, but it'll never be done as long as it benefits one party much more than the other, as it does now. The political Mandalorian would say "This is the Way."

 

[Herdfan]

There is a way, but it'll never be done as long as it benefits one party much more than the other, as it does now. The political Mandalorian would say "This is the Way."

But I submit to you that we would not have the country we have today without it. We would most likely be more like Europe with the states doing more of their own thing.

It was a compromise between two different proposals. A direct election like you desire or the election of the President by Congress, which would be worse than the EC, at least in MHO. Without that compromise, we might never have become the USofA.

 

[Alli]

There is value in experience. Like them or not, people like Pelosi, McConnell, Schumer, McCarthy have loads of experience and knowledge. So they aren't as dependent on staff to know the ins and outs of government as someone newer would. Take a 1st or 2nd term Rep. They are going to listen to staff on things they don't know about because they don't have the experience. And we didn't elect the staff nor do we know who has been influencing the staff.

Kind of covered by both #'s 2 & 3.

Five reasons to oppose congressional term limits | Brookings

“Nothing renders government more unstable than a frequent change of the persons that administer it.” –Roger Sherman, open letter, 1788. Congressional term limits have long been argued to be an easy mechanism for improving the effectiveness of Congress and government at large. More specifically...

www.brookings.edu

Where do “unelected bureaucrats” come in?

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Biden Speeds Away In Truck After Dropping Dianne Feinstein Off In Empty Field

FLOYD, VA—Unlatching the tailgate and shooing the senior California senator out of the truck bed, President Joe Biden reportedly sped away in his pickup Thursday after dropping Dianne Feinstein off in an empty field. “You stay right there, girl—Joey’s coming back for you, I swear,” said Biden...

www.theonion.com

“You’re the mayor of corn now, you hear me? This is your brand new office. Real nice, huh? Plenty of space to legislate. That tree over there is your constituent. Now you go see what it wants.”

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Roberts won’t be testifying to congress about Supreme Court ethics. Guess which missing vote made his refusal possible.