Dianne Feinstein and Other Senators Like Her Need to Retire

A new report highlighting concerns over the 88-year-old senator’s decline in mental acuity speaks to a larger issue in Congress

Photo by Chad Stembridge on Unsplash

When the local newspaper of a sitting senator reports on growing concerns about her mental acuity based on background and quotes provided by members of her own party, the proper responses do not include outright denial and questioning the morality of those raising a legitimate issue.

Still, it is not at all shocking that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not only strongly defended Senator Dianne Feinstein to the San Francisco Chronicle, but wagged her finger at everyone for daring to even (publicly) broach the subject.

In a statement to the paper, Pelosi said she had not noticed a decline in Feinstein’s memory — pointing to her work on the recent reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and the Supreme Court confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“Senator Feinstein is a workhorse for the people of California and a respected leader among her colleagues in the Senate,” Pelosi explained. “She is constantly traveling between California and the Capitol, working relentlessly to ensure Californians’ needs are met and voices are heard.”

Pelosi added that it was “unconscionable that, just weeks after losing her beloved husband of more than four decades and after decades of outstanding leadership to our City and State, she is being subjected to these ridiculous attacks that are beneath the dignity in which she has led and the esteem in which she is held.”

This echoes comments issued by Feinstein.

“The last year has been extremely painful and distracting for me, flying back and forth to visit my dying husband who passed just a few weeks ago,” Feinstein, who declined to be interviewed by the newspaper, said via statement. “But there’s no question I’m still serving and delivering for the people of California, and I’ll put my record up against anyone’s.”

I’m sure given how little action ever happens in the Senate.

She defended herself again to the San Francisco Chronicle.