Anonymous Lawmakers Report Dianne Feinstein, 88, in State of Mental Decline

[mystery-ak]

Anonymous Lawmakers Report Dianne Feinstein, 88, in State of Mental Decline

Joel B. Pollak 14 Apr 2022

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday that a growing number of lawmakers are concerned that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who is 88 years old, is in a state of mental decline so severe that she may need to resign in the near future.

Critics have raised such concerns about Feinstein before, notably when she showed some civility toward Republicans during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Barrett in 2020. Feinstein also rankled Democrats by praising one of Barrett’s answers to her questions. Feinstein, who was the ranking member of the minority party on the committee, was forced by caucus leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to step down from her post.

There were also concerns raised about Feinstein’s age during her last re-election effort in 2018, when she was attacked by local activists as being too moderate. The California Democratic Party actually refused to endorse her for re-election.

more
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/04/14/anonymous-lawmakers-report-dianne-feinstein-in-state-of-mental-decline/

[rustynail]

Compared to what?

[Right_in_Virginia]

We've known this for years.

[mountaineer]

We've known this for years.

Yes, we have. I suspect that at least a few others among the 80+ year olds in Congress are impaired to some degree, not to mention the 79 y/o in the White House.

Pretty funny, though, that "showing civility" to Republicans is considered a sign of dementia among Democrats.

[DefiantMassRINO]

I'm sick of gossip being peddled as news.

If someone wants something to have gravitas, they'll put their name and reputation behind it.

Cockroaches deserve more respect than anonymous sources.

[libertybele]

How about the mental fitness of Joe???

Anonymous Democrats go behind Sen. Dianne Feinstein's back to complain about her mental fitness

Democrats in Congress are worried that California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is too old to do her job, and they're leaking their concerns to the media.

"It's bad, and it's getting worse," said one Democratic senator, who requested anonymity in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle to complain about their colleague. The senator related how Feinstein has difficulty keeping up with conversations and discussions.

Four U.S. senators, three former Feinstein staffers, and one California Democratic member of Congress spoke to the paper about Feinstein's reportedly declining memory and questionable mental fitness for office. These individuals say that at 88 years old, Feinstein is entirely dependent on her staff doing most of the work required to represent 40 million Californians in the Senate.

While she has good days, when she appears to be in command of herself and the issues — Democrats pointed to her performance during Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings — there are bad days, when Feinstein reportedly does not even recognize some of her long-term colleagues. .............

https://www.theblaze.com/news/anonymous-democrats-go-behind-sen-dianne-feinstein-s-back-to-complain-about-her-mental-fitness

[libertybele]

Will they invoke the 25th against her?  I'm assuming the same procedure is used for a Senator??

[Kamaji]

Will they invoke the 25th against her?  I'm assuming the same procedure is used for a Senator??

No. The 25th only applies to the President. 

[Fishrrman]

"It's bad, and it's getting worse," said one Democratic senator, who requested anonymity in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle to complain about their colleague. The senator related how Feinstein has difficulty keeping up with conversations and discussions.

The fact that this was the subject of an article in a leftist mouthpiece like the SFC is an indication that The Party considers her to be on the choppin' block and not expected to last much longer.

Then again, she could pull "a McCain" and disappear from the Senate for a few years until her term ends.

This might actually be the best outcome at all -- there's no proxy voting in the Senate.
And no young leftist/communist to take her place until 2025...

[mountaineer]

Miles Commodore
@miles_commodore
Someone 31 years old is not allowed to be President.
Yet, someone is 88 years old and is currently serving as a Senator with rapid dementia.
These rules are inconsistent. Either have an age limit or have no age restrictions.
7:13 AM · Apr 15, 2022·

Congressional term limits would be a start. Two terms for Senate, six for the House. That is, no one should be in Congress more than 12 years.

[Kamaji]

A maximum age limit, or mandatory competency testing, plus required retirement upon failing such a test, after a certain age, should be required.

[Right_in_Virginia]

A maximum age limit, or mandatory competency testing, plus required retirement upon failing such a test, after a certain age, should be required.

Way too complicated.

Congressional term limits solve the age problem .... and limits entrenched corruption.  I'm surprised there hasn't been a grassroots demand for this.

[Kamaji]

Way too complicated.

Congressional term limits solve the age problem .... and limits entrenched corruption.  I'm surprised there hasn't been a grassroots demand for this.

Congressional term limits wouldn't solve the problem - Bidet was already incompetent when he was elected President.  If he had been elected senator for the first time instead, he'd be floridly incompetent while in office without a way to remove him for that incompetence.

Congressional term limits also run the risk of forcing all candidates into running merely for short-term gain, and will disincentivize all of them from thinking of the nation's long-term best interests.

So, they cut too wide and too deep both ways.  They aren't the solution to a myriad of problems for which they've been suggested.

[mystery-ak]

Feinstein 'puzzled' by reports of failing memory, won't step down
by Robert Blankenship, Web Producer
 | April 14, 2022 11:24 PM

Sen. Dianne Feinstein rejected reports of colleagues questioning her mental ability, insisting she remains qualified to serve.

The 88-year-old rejected allegations from fellow lawmakers that her memory is "rapidly deteriorating," with the California Democrat touting her attendance record as evidence she's up to the task.

“I meet regularly with leaders,” Feinstein said in a call with editorial board leaders of the San Francisco Chronicle, which published the original report of her colleagues' accusations. “I’m not isolated. I see people. My attendance is good. I put in the hours. We represent a huge state. And so I’m rather puzzled by all of this.”

Feinstein, who has held her seat since 1992, added that she does not plan to step down.

more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/feinstein-puzzled-by-reports-of-failing-memory-wont-step-down

[christian]

Already an established principle, mental fitness doubts may only be applied to Republicans, never to democrats.   See Biden-Trump contradictions, glaring hypocrisies.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Congressional term limits wouldn't solve the problem - Bidet was already incompetent when he was elected President.  If he had been elected senator for the first time instead, he'd be floridly incompetent while in office without a way to remove him for that incompetence.

Congressional term limits also run the risk of forcing all candidates into running merely for short-term gain, and will disincentivize all of them from thinking of the nation's long-term best interests.

So, they cut too wide and too deep both ways.  They aren't the solution to a myriad of problems for which they've been suggested.

Term limits would go a long way to solving the problems of entrenched Congressional corruption and feeble cling-ons.

[Kamaji]

[Right_in_Virginia]

Already an established principle, mental fitness doubts may only be applied to Republicans, never to democrats.   See Biden-Trump contradictions, glaring hypocrisies.

Yup .....  mental fitness tests would be rife with political abuse ..... and bleed into the general population for the same use.

[mountaineer]

It all comes down to ignorant voters putting these people in office, election after election. 

[Kamaji]

It all comes down to ignorant voters putting these people in office, election after election. 

[mountaineer]

From a San Francisco paper:

Colleagues worry Dianne Feinstein is now mentally unfit to serve, citing recent interactions
Tal Kopan, Joe Garofoli
April 14, 2022
Updated: April 14, 2022 5:52 p.m.

WASHINGTON — When a California Democrat in Congress recently engaged in an extended conversation with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, they prepared for a rigorous policy discussion like those they’d had with her many times over the last 15 years.

Instead, the lawmaker said, they had to reintroduce themselves to Feinstein multiple times during an interaction that lasted several hours.

Rather than delve into policy, Feinstein, 88, repeated the same small-talk questions, like asking the lawmaker what mattered to voters in their district, the member of Congress said, with no apparent recognition the two had already had a similar conversation.

The episode was so unnerving that the lawmaker — who spoke to The Chronicle on condition they not be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic — began raising concerns with colleagues to see if some kind of intervention to persuade Feinstein to retire was possible. Feinstein’s term runs through the end of 2024. The conversation occurred several weeks before the death of her husband in February.  ...

Four U.S. senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers and the California Democratic member of Congress told The Chronicle in recent interviews that her memory is rapidly deteriorating. They said it appears she can no longer fulfill her job duties without her staff doing much of the work required to represent the nearly 40 million people of California. ...

SF Chronicle

Also from this article:

Other than resignation, death or the end of a term, there is only one way to remove senators from office: a two-thirds vote of their peers. The Senate has expelled 15 members since 1789 — one for treason and 14 for supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War. A handful of other expulsions have been explored, usually for corruption, but in each case the lawmaker left office before a vote.

[Fishrrman]

Why, why, why does the right (including members of this forum) keep pushing the concept of "term limits", which is and will remain politically impossible to pass?

Instead, amend the Constitution to have mandatory "old age limits" on elected officeholders and mandatory retirement ages for court judges/justices.

Such restrictions ALREADY ARE IN the Constitution -- in the form of "mandatory minimum age" to hold office.

If it's "Constitutional" to have "minimum" ages, then it will also be Constitutional to have "maximum" ages.

And please don't proclaim that "the courts have struck down age limits".
Put it into the Constitution --- and it BECOMES "Constitutional" simply because it is there.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Start the movement @Fishrrman   ..... it just might work!

[mountaineer]

Such restrictions ALREADY ARE IN the Constitution -- in the form of "mandatory minimum age" to hold office.

If it's "Constitutional" to have "minimum" ages, then it will also be Constitution to have "maximum" ages.

Hmm. Good point.

[christian]

Mountaineer:
It all comes down to ignorant voters putting these people in office, election after election.

christian:
We've seen how those truth deniers and liar advocates excoriated Trump for improving America, and treated Biden like he was a flawless holy God last Presidential election.  Even on this very board!  So now we have to try and get through this mess of their making.  Having gotten their ways, they insist its time to focus of demonizing
Trump and hide in silence.  Last election and those results should have shut them up permanently, they proved how wrong their views are in less that one year.  Yet how devoid of shame so many of them are.
 

Will Feinstein run with Biden as a partner next Presidential election, or vice versa?  Being equally qualified, i mean.