Is Dianne Feinstein Still Fit To Serve? A Debate Might Help The Voters Decide-- Which Is Why She Refuses

I've been following Dianne Feinstein's sordid-- as in corrupt-- conservative-- as in from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- career ever since she was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, as a close friend of mine, also a member, used to complain about her bitterly. That friend was Harvey Milk and his assassination-- and that of Mayor George Moscone (unlike Feinstein, a progressive)-- opened the door to Feinstein's political climb to the top. There were times, I hear, that she did debate her electoral opponents. Maybe it was back when she was in the Continental Congress or when California was first made a state. But in the last decade or so I've never found anyone who recalls her debating anyone. Nor does she debate anyone in the Senate. She just sails along, claiming her collegiality works wonders-- though it didn't work on her pal Susan Collins last week-- and that her so-called "mastery of Senate procedures" gets Republicans to compromise-- though that didn't work last week either.

Her time is up. She should retire already, not wait 'til corporate whore Gavin Newsom is in place to appoint another conservaDem, Adam Schiff, when Feinstein "suddenly" decides she has had enough in a year or so. People see right through her gambit-- anything but a progressive, now and forever. That's always been her motto. This is the DiFi I always knew, the one who was always delighted to use Republican talking points to appeal to conservatives and bigots:



Back to that debate problem. San Francisco political write, Joe Garofoli seems to think she may debate Kevin de León. I hope he's right... but I doubt it. She's neither intellectually or physically capable of a debate-- or even a detailed policy discussion. Garofoli in the SF Chronicle:

The last time Sen. Dianne Feinstein debated an opponent in a Senate election was in 2000. That means no voter under age 35 has had the privilege of deciding whom to send to Washington after seeing California’s senior senator match wits with a campaign foe.

We’re a little more than a month from election day, and so far, Feinstein’s debate-free campaign streak lives on-- though maybe not for long. It’s possible she’ll actually share a stage with her opponent and fellow Democrat, state Sen. Kevin de León.

We’ve seen DiFi’s debate tap dance before. Six years ago, I asked Bill Carrick, Feinstein’s longtime campaign consultant, why she wouldn’t debate her opponent that year, Republican Elizabeth Emken, whom Feinstein was drubbing in the polls.

“I don’t know if this makes much sense,” he told me. After all, Carrick said, Feinstein didn’t debate state Sen. Dick Mountjoy in 2006, “and he was an elective officeholder.”

When I called Carrick this week, it seemed that little had changed.

“Oh, come on,” Carrick told me. “I couldn’t have got you to cover an Emken debate if I brought you there with a police escort.”

He could have at least tried. Who could turn down a police escort? Especially if he threw in a pizza.

But let’s be real: de León is no Emken.

Emken had never held political office. De León is the former state Senate president pro tem and has been endorsed by the California Democratic Party’s executive board. De León has also been endorsed by three California House members-- including Rep. Ro Khanna of Fremont-- along with five members of the Board of Supervisors in Feinstein’s hometown of San Francisco and the 2.1 million-member California Labor Federation.

I heard Feinstein promise The Chronicle’s editorial board in April that she would debate her opponent. Every major news outlet in the state, including The Chronicle, has offered to co-host a throw-down. De León even volunteered to travel to Washington, D.C., to debate Feinstein, since she says she has been too busy with the Supreme Court confirmation hearings to participate.

(By the way, the hearings didn’t stop fellow Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Ted Cruz from scheduling three debates with his Democratic challenger in Texas, Rep. Beto O’Rourke.)

“You’ve got to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Voters deserve the dignity and respect of a conversation about the issues that affect them,” de León spokesman Jonathan Underland told me. “In California, we hold elections, not coronations.”

Carrick insisted that “there will be a debate.” And indeed, there may be some sort of event featuring de Leon and Feinstein in mid-October. A spokeswoman for the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California told the Chronicle on Wednesday that the organization is “very close” to finalizing a date in San Francisco. Terms are still being negotiated, but it could end up being a “conversation” in which a moderator would ask questions and the candidates would have timed responses.

Whether that's a debate is a debate unto itself.

California needs a fighter in DC. We've had enough of Miss Cordiality. And we need someone who can understand the problems Californians have, not another crooked billionaire or whatever the hell she is now. Is there any reason we can't have someone as good as Elizabeth Warren?