Dianne Feinstein Fails The Purity Test
[guest post by Dana]
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has lost the support of abortion rights group NARAL after she hugged Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and praised his handling of the hearings for Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett. The group said that the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee “offered an appearance of credibility to the proceedings that is wildly out of step with the American people. As such, we believe the committee needs new leadership.” Barrett is outspokenly anti-abortion and her nomination process was heavily criticized for being rammed through by Republicans just before the election. She will replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had voted in favor of abortion rights. Feinstein praised Graham at the end of this week’s hearings, Feinstein called it “one of the best Senate hearings that I’ve participated in.”
Oh, boo-hoo, you big, fat babies. (SWIDT?? NARAL…abortion…babies…) Civility and generosity are now something to disdain – especially when it crosses party lines. Or perhaps specifically to NARAL, when it lends further credibility to an already credible and legal process. Sorry, NARAL, just because you do not support ACB and are convinced that she will set women back a hundred years and force them all to wear granny-panties does not mean that the hearings are not credible – without or without Feinstein’s civility. Ask yourselves this: Why was Feinstein, a loyal abortion supporter who has herself criticized ACB, compelled to compliment Graham on the hearing? Maybe, just maybe she was compelled to tell him because it was true and because she is a mature woman who is able to remain gracious and humane during an ugly season in American politics. Shouldn’t that be applauded? Or are we so pathetic, so angry, so brittle, that to simply cross the political aisle TO PAY A COMPLIMENT AND OFFER A BIT OF HUMANITY is a deal-breaker? Who made that stupid rule? Look, I don’t agree with Feinstein about much of anything, but in this, I’m in her corner. The woman had an independent thought and with full agency, acted on it. Good on her.
If I was Feinstein, I think I would be more than just a little insulted by this group. They have essentially penalized a Democratic leader who has faithfully toed the party line and taken her professional obligations seriously, only to have her agency and actions put to some kind of pass/fail purity test. I feel like if I were the 87-year old Feinstein, who has been involved in politics for more than 40 years and found herself dumped for being truthful and kind, I wouldn’t hesitate to issue a well-deserved “Fuck You” to NARAL.
And about that wildly out of step with the American people claim? I’m pretty sure that about half the country disagrees and thinks the hearings and ACB are right in step with the American people. These kinds of sweeping declarations aren’t the convincing argument one might think they are, and they certainly don’t really lend any um, credibility to their argument.
Get out the smelling salts. You’ve been warned:
P.S. PUT ON YOUR DAMN MASKS *BEFORE* HUGGING IT OUT, PEOPLE!
–Dana
Every day we become more stupid as a culture an as a country.
Dana (292df6) — 10/16/2020 @ 6:06 pmThat’s the closest Lindsey has been to a woman since his birth.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/16/2020 @ 6:07 pmTo be fair, Lindsay G. might have Madonna-level immunity and resistance.
urbanleftbehind (42dcc3) — 10/16/2020 @ 6:23 pmDid Feinstein even know whom she was hugging, I wonder?
All those old people up there! Gaaah! Get out!
We said “old”, but not this old.
nk (1d9030) — 10/16/2020 @ 6:35 pmReminds me of another infamous hug right before an election…
Dave (1bb933) — 10/16/2020 @ 6:52 pm@5. Sammy Davis Jr., hugging The Big Dick was much more infamous.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 10/16/2020 @ 6:57 pmFeinstein is entitled to her opinion of “Use My Words Against Me” Graham.
And her critics are entitled to their opinion of her.
Dave (1bb933) — 10/16/2020 @ 6:57 pmWho of us doesn’t need a hug. F*ck the haters.
JRH (52aed3) — 10/16/2020 @ 7:00 pmRight on, JRH!
Dana (292df6) — 10/16/2020 @ 7:05 pmI feel like there must be a reason I have the urge to scream “GROW UP!” all the time. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’m sure that there’s a reason for it somewhere.
Nic (896fdf) — 10/16/2020 @ 7:20 pmYou’re a middle-school administrator. It’s just like being at work 24/7.
Dana (292df6) — 10/16/2020 @ 7:31 pm@10 Well, working in a school full of teenagers may explain part of it. 🙂
norcal (a5428a) — 10/16/2020 @ 7:35 pmDana is a quicker draw than I am!
norcal (a5428a) — 10/16/2020 @ 7:35 pmI wonder if Feinstein is undergoing the same phenomenon as my aunt, who was rather haughty and cold in her prime, but in recent years (she’s in her 90s now) tells me how much she loves me.
norcal (a5428a) — 10/16/2020 @ 7:38 pmAt her age, I don’t believe Ms. Feinstein gives a rip about what a hardline advocacy says about her collegiality.
Paul Montagu (9cb8f5) — 10/16/2020 @ 7:53 pmI was reading a comment at NYT where someone decried the politeness that had hitherto been directed at Rethuglicans. I guess this is part of that sudden change in attitude.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/16/2020 @ 7:58 pmFeinstein should have been forcibly retired years ago.
Rip Murdock (3decd7) — 10/16/2020 @ 7:59 pmAt her age, I don’t believe Ms. Feinstein gives a rip about what a hardline advocacy says about her collegiality.
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t pick a fight with a 5-term US Senator.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/16/2020 @ 8:01 pmSingle issue advocacy groups, especially those with identifiable opponents, are often led by the most kneejerk, belligerent supporters of the issues they represent. Pro and anti-abortion, RKBA, gun control, LGBTQ, religious freedom… dump the leaders of all those movements onto an ice flow and our lives immediately improve 100%.
lurker (d8c5bc) — 10/16/2020 @ 8:11 pm@11 and @12 I mean. That’s part of it. But I’m not really seeing kids at the moment (it’s mostly all zoom, and phone calls, and the 500 million tons of paperwork they’ve decided we need to keep in order to track every damn thing, and the occasional home visit), so you’d think there’d be a reduction there and it might average out.
@15 I suspect you are right. And it’s not like she’s going to get voted out.
Nic (896fdf) — 10/16/2020 @ 8:17 pmBut you are seeing “kids” – they’re just not at your school, but are in the halls of Congress and in the White House!
Dana (292df6) — 10/16/2020 @ 8:20 pmand the 500 million tons of paperwork they’ve decided we need to keep in order to track every damn thing
Do you ever get the data back in the form of information, or do they just file it someplace.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/16/2020 @ 8:25 pm@19 Yes!
I dislike single-advocacy groups for another reason. They never go away!
MADD succeeded in getting the drunk driving threshold established at .10, and then lowered to .08. Did it then disband? Heavens no! They just make up new goals. Now buzzed driving is drunk driving. I guess sober driving is the new buzzed driving.
This permanency feature is evident with a wide spectrum of organizations, whether they be environmental groups, NARAL, the NRA, etc. There’s always a new crisis demanding money and support.
norcal (a5428a) — 10/16/2020 @ 8:29 pmMADD also hid in the bushes as truly drunk-drunk driving increasingly became the domain of one demographic that is by-product of a big third-rail unresolved issue.
urbanleftbehind (42dcc3) — 10/16/2020 @ 8:42 pm@21 Too true. And while I do have a soft spot for some of my good hearted but troublesome kids, I have doubts about the “good hearted” part of these 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 yr old adults.
@22 It depends. We can sort and use certain kinds of data like test scores or discipline in relation to ethnicity or socio-economics. We can look at how disciple or test scores and such are by teacher/grade level/department. The DO sometimes passes back the info on statewide testing comparison or benchmark (district) testing between schools that can be useful for curriculum development. And we use a lot of the information put into the “contacts made” field in parent meetings.
But this is mostly not that kind of data. The data we are keeping right now will probably be used to decide which cadres of students come back 1st, some of it will go to the sarb process, and some of it is my mostly newbie principal being paranoid that if she can’t account of every minute of the rest our days that the DO will move her back to the classroom (she was promoted to principal after only one yr as VP and she wasn’t ready and is driving us all crazy with her insane imposter syndrome and pretend knowledge, and inability to plan and refusal to listen. They should move her back to VP or Dean until she learns better but they probably won’t.)
Nic (896fdf) — 10/16/2020 @ 9:48 pmPeople still not realizing that the Left are becoming more and more brazen about devouring anyone who fails to follow the herd. Doesn’t matter how they’ve served the party in the past. As the CEO of Twitter endorsed last year, no more bipartisanship. One side must win.
_
Read what lefties are saying in social media about ACB, these people are unhinged.
Making the same dire predictions about Handmaids Camps that they did b4 Trump was elected.
The whole ‘sexual preference’ and censoring a newspaper episodes are just previews of what’s coming when Biden/Harris get in.
And these aren’t crazy predictions, they’re doing it right in the open and they don’t care what you think.
harkin (7fb4c9) — 10/16/2020 @ 11:42 pm_
@26 The media is the fourth branch of government, and their bias is overwhelmingly towards the left.
This is obvious to anyone willing to do the analysis.
norcal (a5428a) — 10/16/2020 @ 11:54 pmHow many here think when coney-barrett wins senate confirmation everyone will live happier ever after? With the democrats telling mcconnell thank you sir may I have another. They will just roll over and play dead like al gore did in 2000. And democrat base don’t you dare primary us. Or perhaps not. As AOC’s role model says no man (woman) no problema! Democrat base’s hero is Malcolm X who said “By any means necessary!” not dr. king. AOC’s other role model is john brown. If you don’t know who he is look him up he had a supreme court stacked against him too! (dred scott decision) As Paul newman asked in the movie hondo to the outlaw played by richard boone “Hey I got a question! How are you going to get back down the mountain?” Be careful what you wish for. Pascifism in the democrat party is becoming politically incorrect.
asset (65002a) — 10/17/2020 @ 3:15 amFWIW, Peter Grant has a post today that includes the full July 1920 column on presidential elections by the great H. L. Mencken. It appears that not much has changed in 100 years.
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2020/10/saturday-snippet-h-l-mencken-on.html
ColoComment (6c4dcd) — 10/17/2020 @ 9:17 amThe 1920 nomination process was so utterly fubar. The Dems took 44 ballots to pick a nominee. The GOP (which had been expecting to nominate Teddy, who sadly dropped dead in 1919) only took 10 ballots to pick Harding (who had been 6th on the first ballot). Harding won in a landslide (60% to 34%), partly because the GOP had championed giving votes to women, who were voting for the first time.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 10/17/2020 @ 3:49 pmSomewhere someone made the point that DiFi was at Harvey Milk’s side seconds after he was shot to death, after San Francisco Mayor Moscone had also been assassinated by the Twinkie defense fella. All of them were in politics. You could maybe see where she would favor some civility in politics after that.
I know JVW really dislikes her, but I have always had something of a soft spot for her. I even voted for her once. I forget who her opponent was but it was someone awful.
Patterico (115b1f) — 10/17/2020 @ 8:37 pmOh right: it was 2018 when there was some other worse Democrat opposing her, under our crazy system that allows two people from the same party to face each other in the general.
Patterico (115b1f) — 10/17/2020 @ 8:40 pmI loved it when she told all those climate change kids off.
Patterico (115b1f) — 10/17/2020 @ 8:40 pm@31 I agree, Patrick. She has exhibited moderate tendencies from time to time, and I can’t recall her ever being a wacko on foreign policy.
norcal (a5428a) — 10/17/2020 @ 8:54 pmAnd back in 1984, she flew the Stars and Bars at SF City Hall.
urbanleftbehind (6fc1bc) — 10/17/2020 @ 9:01 pmHello san angeles
https://www.realclearbooks.com/articles/2020/10/16/be_afraid_very_afraid_part_ii_581014.html
Bolivar di griz (7404b5) — 10/17/2020 @ 9:02 pm” The media is the fourth branch of government, and their bias is overwhelmingly towards the left.
This is obvious to anyone willing to do the analysis.”
Fox News is the largest single news service and the fifth largest media company. Talk radio is dominated by right wing broadcasters.
My analysis is that your analysis is lacking.
Davethulhu (a625e5) — 10/17/2020 @ 9:02 pm@37 Chris Wallace (of Fox News) was lot harder on Trump than Biden in the debate, and as a Fox journalist Megyn Kelly went after Trump aggressively.
NPR is everywhere, and if you think it is objective then you need to reconsider.
Besides, any analysis that considers Fox News + talk radio equal to the rest of the media aggregate (newspapers, magazines, broadcast networks, social media) is risible.
norcal (a5428a) — 10/17/2020 @ 9:20 pm@38 If my job is to keep two people in their own lane and one person stays in their lane and the other doesn’t, it’s going to look like I”m harder on the out of their lane person, even if I am doing my job of keeping them both in their own lanes in an absolutely unbiased way.
Nic (896fdf) — 10/17/2020 @ 10:28 pm@39 Good point, but if Fox were as biased as some think then Wallace would have let Trump run wild.
Just consider the kid gloves treatment Biden got from Stephanopoulos compared to Guthrie’s approach with Trump at the dueling town halls. Any credible journalist, when confronted with Biden’s statement about letting people know his stance on court-packing prior to the election, would have informed Biden that people are already voting. Plus, if it were Trump’s son who had the laptop scandal, you can bet that Guthrie would have asked Trump about it. Stephanopoulos didn’t even mention it. What a hack.
I’ll still like to see Biden submit to an adversarial interview like Trump did with Jonathan Swan, but unfortunately Biden will take a dirt nap before that ever happens.
norcal (a5428a) — 10/17/2020 @ 11:12 pm