Dianne Feinstein's Senate seat

[Oss Rae]

Got my first shingles shot yesterday. I'd been meaning to do it for a while, but this situation finally compelled me to get it taken care of.

[Brian]

I've kept my mouth shut for the past three weeks while waiting for any kind of news from Dianne herself and then watching her sudden fraught return to the Senate last week.  Except for the debt ceiling -- which also required her to resume her job -- this is the ongoing story I care about most.  I've read everything I can find, mostly speculation by pundits and obfuscation by Senate Democrats, though some details about the senator's health and living situation are starting to dribble out, thanks to real reporters.

I decided that Dianne should stay and vote if she wants to and if she's ambulatory.  She can be our Strom Thurmond.  Republicans probably would prevent Schumer from replacing her on the Judiciary Committee if she resigned, which would end President Biden's ability to nominate the judges we need to balance the hordes his predecessor and Mitch McConnell rammed through.  And what if there was a Supreme Court vacancy?

Of course, you shouldn't listen to me.  I've bet wrong on Dianne for years, as this and previous threads prove.  But what if she has enough of her brain left along with the willpower to stick it the Republicans for their refusal to accommodate her by allowing a replacement on the committee?  Perhaps the sight of her struggling to fulfill her duties will summon some decency in at least ten of them to strike a deal with Schumer.

The best case scenario would be full recovery from shingles and the resulting maladies, and Dianne being present enough to enjoy it.

[Sharon W]

Here's another possibility for a "care taker" senator should Dianne Feinstein resign, www.businessinsider.com/gov-newsom-floated-oprah-winfrey-as-feinstein-replacement-ap-2023-5

[Brian]

There goes Gavin Newsom, floating Oprah on the fly, governing just like he did in 2019 when he promised to make a black woman his next Senate appointment.  Which is how he made his mess in the first place.  Cool idea, though, if Oprah's interested.

In an interview in Time Magazine, Hillary Clinton gave basically the same reasons I did in supporting Dianne's decision to keep voting on the Judiciary Committee. This writer for Slate argues that Hillary is "unreasonably alarmist."

slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/05/hillary-clinton-dianne-feinstein-resign-senator-judiciary-committee.html

I don't buy it. Lindsey Graham has no credibility -- even when he's unequivocal -- and his quote in that piece is just mush. Why would Mitch McConnell, age 81, end a glorious career of packing the federal bench by passing up an opportunity to block President Biden's nominations for the rest of his term? Like Mitch, I count only 49 Democrats who would vote to end a filibuster on committee assignments. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are up for re-election next year-- they couldn't afford to side with Democrats in such a high profile vote.

[Brian]

For the record, I got an e-mail from Roots Action Tuesday inviting me to sign a petition to Senator Feinstein asking her to resign. I won't bother to post a link. My read of the current zeitgeist is that most Californians have adopted a wait and see attitude since Diane's return to the Senate if they're paying attention and I think many are. Meanwhile, reporters like Annie Karni in the New York Times and the photographers of the Los Angeles Times are piercing the veil around Dianne so we can see how she's performing her duties.