Gov. Newsom May Have to Appoint Second California Senator
Jane Mayer at the New Yorker has filed a story on Senator Diane Feinstein’s cognitive decline, and it ain’t about how sharp she is at age 87 or what a wonderful job she’s doing.
The article starts off describing how Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had to ask her twice to step down from her leadership position on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The second request came after she’d forgotten about the initial conversation. It had to be painful for all involved.
The average age in the Senate these days is 61, the oldest it’s ever been. I’m fairly certain that Feinstein isn’t alone in facing challenges in her mental capacities, and this story shouldn’t be the last of its kind.
I have to wonder if there isn’t a certain amount of sexism behind the reasoning of sources who brought this to the reporter’s attention. There certainly are plenty of older men in the Senate worth evaluating.
This report is important, if for no other reason that Feinstein’s role in overseeing the parade of ideologues being jammed into the federal judiciary.
While modern medicine has expanded horizons for physical longevity --I’d certainly already be dead by now,-- its ability to treat mental decline in an aging populace hasn’t kept up. Having watched a close family member go through this experience --it wasn’t alzheimer's-- I can say that there really isn't much science can do.
Regardless, publication of this sort of information should lead Senator Feinstein to seek out and make public the results of a medical evaluation. If the situation is as bad as Mayer reports, then she owes it to the people of California to step down.
Here are the relevant quotes from the New Yorker article:
But many others familiar with Feinstein’s situation describe her as seriously struggling, and say it has been evident for several years. Speaking on background, and with respect for her accomplished career, they say her short-term memory has grown so poor that she often forgets she has been briefed on a topic, accusing her staff of failing to do so just after they have. They describe Feinstein as forgetting what she has said and getting upset when she can’t keep up. One aide to another senator described what he called a “Kabuki” meeting in which Feinstein’s staff tried to steer her through a proposed piece of legislation that she protested was “just words” which “make no sense.” Feinstein’s staff has said that sometimes she seems herself, and other times unreachable. “The staff is in such a bad position,” a former Senate aide who still has business in Congress said. “They have to defend her and make her seem normal.”
Feinstein has always been known as a difficult taskmaster. She is said to have told someone applying for a job in her office, “I don’t get ulcers—I give them.” A stickler for detail, she demanded to see every page going out of her office with her name on it. But with her diminishing capacity, this has become increasingly difficult. The former Senate staffer who still works with Congress declared, “It’s been a disaster.” As the ranking Democrat, Feinstein ordinarily would be expected to run the Party’s strategy on issues of major national importance, including judicial nominations. Instead, the committee has been hamstrung and disorganized. “Other members were constantly trying to go around her because, as chair, she didn’t want to do anything, and she also didn’t want them doing anything,” the former Senate staffer said. A current aide to a different Democratic senator observed sadly, “She’s an incredibly effective human being, but there’s definitely been deterioration in the last year. She’s in a very different mode now.”
Hey folks! I’ll be taking a “holiday break” starting on Dec 11th for cancer surgery. I really appreciate all the support and good wishes people have sent my way since going public. As I said, my break could be from 10 days to 10 weeks, depending on what they see when I’m cut open.