I have a pretty simple question: why is California Sen. Dianne Feinstein continuing to serve? It’s highly unlikely she has no other interests—she was already, shall we say, very mature when she was first elected to the Senate. It’s not a matter of partisan loyalty—another Democrat would be sure to be appointed and then elected.
Maybe she likes being a senator but I doubt she likes it as much as she did, say, five years ago. IMO the most likely explanation is that she has the insecurities so common among members of the Silent Generation. She’s afraid of what will happen to her, to San Francisco, to California, and to the United States should she stop being a senator.
It’s not that I don’t like Sen. Feinstein—I do. I would have gladly voter for her for president in preference to Al Gore, for example.
Nah, she just likes being important and having something to do. I am thinking that being a senator could be pretty hard work if you wanted, but it could also be really easy. Only talk with people you want to talk with, vote occasionally, have the staff read stuff for you. The moment she leaves she instantly is much less important and in her particular case she isn’t likely tot be able to sell much influence since she is barely, if at all, functional.
Steve
…..since she is barely, if at all, functional.
You can add Biden and Fetterman to that category of poorly functioning democrat politicians. Of course waiting in the wings to take over Feinstein’s job is Adam Schiff, the biggest liar in Congress.
My guess is that she doesn’t understand how compromised she is. That seems to be common with a lot of older people, especially those with some cognitive deficiencies.
Just as one example, I was out talking to my neighbors – they are renting their house from the husband’s parents, and before that, the grandparents lived there. All four generations were there, and I got to talk with the grandparents, who are 87 and 83 and used to live in the house. They live in assisted living now, but the man kept insisting he wanted to move back into the neighborhood and would get mad at his wife and kids when they told him all the very practical and reasonable reasons he couldn’t.
Another example is my sister, who has a form of dementia called FTD. This is also what Bruce Willis has. One aspect of this disease is that the person with it cannot cognitively perceive anything is wrong with them. That aspect makes it hard to get them to admit they can no longer do what they’ve been doing, and you often see a lot of paranoia because – to them – they see nothing wrong except for everyone else’s behavior. In my sister’s case, after she did some very dangerous things, we had to go to court to have a guardian (me) and conservator appointed, and I had the unpleasant task of forcing her to go into memory care.
So I think Feinstein likely believes that nothing is wrong with her and that the people suggesting otherwise have ulterior motives. I’m not sure there is any solution to this.
Adding onto Andy’s comments, her staff (and backers) may be unwilling to give up their jobs (and graft) and so encourage her to stay on the job. Much like say, Cannon of Arizona, or Stennis of Mississippi.
I think Andy and walt are closer than one might want to think. If reports are even remotely correct I don’t think “she enjoys it” is plausible. She’s too far out of it.
A more important question is why voters vote in the Feinstein’s and Fetterman’s of the world. Or Joe. It seems rather irresponsible and tribal. Or maybe too many Republican nihilists……
And while I’m on a roll…
Does anyone find this as distasteful, even for a pathological liar, as I do?
“Using your dead son to score points is unseemly, especially in front of US servicemembers. During his Japan trip, Biden once again declared that his son Beau, who died of brain cancer, died in Iraq. That’s patently false. Beau wasn’t killed in action over there or the victim of an IED. He died stateside from brain cancer, but Joe keeps trotting out his dead son to channel his inner G.I. Joe, maybe even goading the press to attack him, so he can pull the “I’m a Gold Star parent†card.”
Ghoulish. But at least no mean tweets…….
Andy- That’s really common in older people. Everyone recognizes the person with cognitive loss who cant remember stuff or just sits and drools. People tend not to recognize the kind of cognitive loss where people confabulate to make up for deficits. They will, often very convincingly, tell you details about their daily life or history that are completely untrue. It’s often paired with emotional lability so when you try to confront them with what they just told you being wrong they get very angry. These are actually more difficult people to deal with I think. It’s easy to just assume they know what they are talking about.
By report, Fetterman has speech issues and not cognitive deficits per se, ie his intellect is intact but he has trouble finding the words he wants. This is pretty common after a stroke for younger stroke patients and it tends to get better with time. It’s very frustrating for stroke pts as they understand what is going on but have trouble getting out the right words. Most of us try to be pt with these people and treat them with some patience and compassion. If you are a conservative I guess you just make fun of them. Cruelty is always the point isnt it?
Biden? By all reports he does OK in private meetings. Besides, it was one old man vs another with both showing at least some signs of problems. Feinstein? Meh. She was elected 5 years ago and has gone downhill. Let’s not forget the GOP sending 90 y/o senators to office and didnt Strom hit 100? In your 70s, 80s and 90s you can go downhill pretty rapidly, functioning pretty well and then decompensating over a few months.
Steve
Steve