Feinstein saying that this is the "first time" she's heard about eliminating the filibuster....

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Brian Tyler Cohen
@briantylercohen
Feinstein saying that this is the "first time" she's heard about eliminating the filibster and that "no one has proposed it" is a 5-alarm fire that she needs to retire. Just beyond comprehension.

Sahil Kapur
@sahilkapur
Asked Feinstein if a 1/6 filibuster would motivate her to abolish the rule:

"I don't see us abolishing the 60-vote threshold. I don't."

Would she vote to nix?

"This is the first time I've heard it. No one has proposed it. No one has talked to me about it. So it's a non-issue."
2:40 PM · May 27, 2021

[TwilightZone]

1. Meanwhile, DU continues to laughably insist that Manchin is the only roadblock.

[Grokenstein]

2. He's the most *obnoxious* roadblock. But...yeah.

Feinstein's lost it.

[babylonsister]

10. This is the first I've heard about Feinstein, RE: filibuster;

Last edited Thu May 27, 2021, 09:43 PM - Edit history (1)

did you know she was so clueless? I don't think it's laughable if we're not informed of what's not going on in Feinstein's brain.

Edited this to add filibuster. I do know this isn't the first time she seemed incompetent.

[Lonestarblue]

26. She has been having difficulties for the past few years.

She should not have run for reelection and should retire now so a Democratic governor can replace her. She has had a long and good career, but it’s time. When she congratulated Lindsey Graham on getting Barrett on the Supreme Court, I was astonished. She was a democratic stalwart in the past, but anyone who doesn’t know that the filibuster is an issue now does not belong in the Senate.

[femmedem]

38. Here's a brief related NPR story about it from last December

An interview with Jane Mayer of The New Yorker, who had recently reported on Senator Feinstein's possible cognitive problems: https://www.npr.org/2020/12/11/945578748/how-one-senators-missteps-lead-to-a-painful-age-question-in-congress

[Escurumbele]

27. The difference between Manchin and Feinstein is that Feinstein seems to be loosing her mind, maybe

Alzheimer. How can someone who is serving in the Senate not know that the filibuster has been the talk of the town for months now?

Manchin on the other hand just wants to have republican friends.

[WarGamer]

34. the rest of what DiFI said

clickbait headlines only list ONE quote.

Link to tweet

?s=20

[JI7]

48. Feinstein will vote however a democrat tells her to when she goes to vote .

[Grasswire2]

3. Are we allowed to talk about term limits for Congress? nt

[Caliman73]

8. You can certainly talk about it. Would create more problems than it would solve.

Ted Kennedy and John McCain were older and ill, but still able to comprehend the gravity of moments when they cast crucial votes for the initial ACA and to save it. It isn't about time in office it is about fitness to serve. We have Greene in the House, who hasn't even been in office for a full year of her first term and she has shown herself unfit for the solemnity of the office. She is not fit and never was. Feinstein has served with distinction, and I am not even a fan. She is however showing signs of significant cognitive deficits and it does her legacy no good for staff and Senate Leaders to allow her to continue. Someone needs to sit down with her and her chief of staff and have a serious conversation.

Here is what Term limits do. They erase any semblance of institutional memory from government while the Lobbyists who are ALWAYS there, get to go after impressionable younger members of Congress, who may not know how to write a bill as well as the more seasoned members. If we want people to serve less time in congress then we need to work on ways to make elections more fair and eliminate some of the incumbency advantages.

[Grasswire2]

12. eliminate incumbency advantages.

Sounds reasonable, but not in the short term when the republic is about to be lost.

[Dakota Flint]

24. Well then

Require a mental acuity test for everyone over 75 to be taken every three months to test their understanding of both US and world events.

[Caliman73]

28. In order to not discriminate, require a mental status exam as part of an annual physical.

I would support every member of Congress having a mental status exam as part of an annual physical. Typically, unless we are talking about a stroke, you aren't going to see significant cognitive decline in a 3 month period, even at 75 and older. An annual exam would be sufficient to catch most situations. I think that aside from privacy concerns, any test that shows significant decline needs to be sent to whatever medical and ethical panel is available within Congress, and that person's fitness to serve, examined.

[StarfishSaver]

29. Exactly

Term limits would give us more Josh Hawleys and fewer Nancy Pelosis.

Besides, we already have term limits. They're called elections.

[Caliman73]

36. BINGO.

People seem to think that term limits or other schemes will fix problems in our politics. The reality is that the only things that will fix our politics is making them more fair and taking money out of politics.

Running for office should be a civic duty, not an industry. We are talking millions of dollars being spent on state elections, 10's of millions for District wide national elections, 100's of millions for Senatorial elections and billions to elect a President. Elections don't ever seem to stop. As soon as the results are in from one election, they start talking about the next cycle. All of these idiots getting paid to guess, or "give advice". It is bull shit. Elections are run like flashy middle school affairs. "Vote for Heather cause Jimmy has cooties". That is the level of discourse. People want to see if Trump would throw a chair rather than having them sit down and answer questions about policy and what they really need to do to fix the problems in the country.

We don't need term limits. We need better elections, and we need a smarter, more engaged electorate.

[a kennedy]

40. So how does she keep getting elected??? Name recognition I'm sure....but damn.

[StarfishSaver]

44. People need to be smarter about their choices

But people making dumb choices is not a reason to take my choice away from me.

[JI7]

49. She didn't start having these issues until AFTER she was elected

[JI7]

50. Yup, it's just laziness and has made it tough for California to get things done

it's not as bad since we are mostly democratic so they are able to get the numbers needed.

But we have stupid propositions all the time when the legislature should be working on those issues. And this means people with experience .

[Hekate]

54. They exist. They're in the US Constitution. They are called ELECTIONS.

[orwell]

4. Used to by my mayor...

...now she is my senator.

She is embarrassing to say the least.

Time to retire DiFi...

[WarGamer]

35. did you see the rest of what she said?

Link to tweet

?s=20

[jalan48]

5. Good Gawd. How embarrassing.

[AleksS]

6. What makes Feinstein worse in my eyes

Is that her seat is a safe D seat. Manchin is at least keeping a the seat out of the hands of the GOP, and is better than any alternative that would get elected in WV.

[FoxNewsSucks]

7. Maybe she was too busy hugging Leningrad Lindsay

There is a big problem with her statement. If it's true that no one talked to her about it, that is a big failure on someone's part. If they did, and she forgot, or is falsely claiming not to remember, it just adds to the call for her retirement.

[Funtatlaguy]

9. There comes a time (did for me) when caring family members step in.

[HipChick]

14. The hardest thing was when I thought I had to take away my Dad's car keys..

[tritsofme]

11. The situation with Feinstein calls for grace

Feinstein deserves to depart on her own terms, as so many of her colleagues in similar positions have over the years.

I wish folks here would hold their fire, but the time for quiet conversations and planning, has clearly come.

[Grasswire2]

13. These are not normal times.

Nothing about now is.

[JHB]

15. I have five words for that, Senator. Six syllables.

"I do not believe you."

[femmedem]

16. Speaking from family experience, when someone has cognitive decline or early dementia

there is often a phase where they are no longer capable of recognizing their deficits, but able to comprehend when people don't believe they are competent. And they can get very angry and defensive. It's part of the illness.

My mom was furious when we arranged to have her driver's license taken away, furious when we tried to help her with daily living. It was heartbreaking.

[PortTack]

17. I knew I had seen articles to the contrary. An Internet search comes up with a page full of

Hits that say differently, that she was open to changing or end it

[Pas-de-Calais]

18. Her staff wants their jobs

[Takket]

19. seriously wondering if she has Alzheimers

"no one has brought it up" seems as serious a symptom of Alzheimer as "i don't know who you are" when talking to your own child.

Not trying to kid around or anything, something is very wrong with her mentally if she is saying that. She needs to retire and get medical attention.

[mathematic]

20. Maybe she meant "literally" since there's nothing to vote on

If she wasn't old, I think people would interpret this as a variety of "no comment". Is there any more context to her statements?

[WarGamer]

33. context:

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Evolve Dammit]

21. She is not in the game anymore; if she ever was. Jello Biafra weighed in decades ago....

[world wide wally]

22. So, what is the difference between senility and dementia?

[seta1950]

25. As a long time California resident

I believe sen. Feinstein needs to retire, as soon as possible.

[Caliman73]

30. I support any Democrat over any Republican.

That said, California was blessed with a wonderful replacement for Barbara Boxer when she retired. Kamala Harris. Similarly, the very competent Alex Padilla has replaced Harris as she became VP.

All things being equal, and seeing how sharp she still is, I would have loved for Kamala Harris to have replaced Diane Feinstein rather than Boxer. Boxer had a good 10+ years in her when she retired in 2017. Check out her Twitter and then tell me we would be having this discussion about the Filibuster with her.

[orleans]

45. i loved barbara boxer. i was pretty upset when she left the senate. nt

[WarGamer]

31. What happened to DU's "Thou shalt not shit talk a Democrat"?

Especially someone with her resume?

She hasn't heard of this because she doesn't follow social media or activist websites.

As a SENATOR, it hasn't been brought to her attention.

Come on guys, she's NOT the enemy!


Here's her quotes on the filibuster, including reform:

https://www.businessinsider.com/dianne-feinstein-open-to-senate-filibuster-reform-2021-3

https://www.businessinsider.com/senate-democrats-cautious-on-killing-the-filibuster-biden-agenda-2020-8

Link to tweet

?s=20

[intheflow]

56. According to this tweet,

in March 2021 she supported it, yesterday it was "the first time" she'd heard of it.

It was on her radar - and on her Senate page - two months ago. She obviously had heard about it. As a SENATOR.

[WarGamer]

57. Two different things...

She said she was open to MAKING CHANGES...

Which probably translates to a Manchin-like attitude...

Yesterday she said she hadn't heard about abolishing the filibuster.

See the difference?

Do you think any Senator or aide has approached DiFi and talked about abolishing the filibuster?

[WarGamer]

32. Cohen is posting clickbait. Here's what DiFi actually SAID

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Nevilledog]

39. Thanks for taking the time to post in the thread.

[WarGamer]

41. She's not the bad guy... sheeesh

People jump on her soooo fast.

I don't blame you.

There are certain people on social media who make a living out of posting outrage-bait stories.

They frequently mislead people for the clicks.

Cohen is one of the worst

[Nevilledog]

42. Alrighty.

[WarGamer]

43. sorry for coming on strong...

It's my habit...

[wellst0nev0ter]

46. I'm confused

The "rest of what she said" was released in March, while the tweeted quote came from today.

Seems to support the claim that she's not on the ball.

[NYC Liberal]

55. So she doesn't remember what she said 2 months ago about this very subject?

Kind of proves the point.

[PufPuf23]

47. Way past time for Senator Feinstein to retire. nt

[LiberatedUSA]

52. If you want to know how to feel about this...

...Republicans suddenly love her.

[lagomorph777]

53. Yikes. Sounds like she's ready for memory care.