Dianne Feinstein’s Missteps Raise a Painful Age Question Among Senate Democrats
Older lawmakers’ foibles and infirmities are coming under new scrutiny, violating an unspoken culture of complicity and coverup.
www.newyorker.com
I know this is a topic riddled with sexism and ageism but Jane Mayer doesn't report out trash. And I really would like people to read the whole article as its more nuanced than quotes I can give. But this isn't good. I wish her the best as a CA voter.
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."
According to several sources, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Minority Leader, was so worried that Feinstein would mismanage Barrett's confirmation hearings that he installed a trusted former aide, Max Young, to "embed" in the Judiciary Committee to make sure the hearings didn't go off the rails. He had done the same during Kavanaugh's confirmation as well. Schumer brought Young in from the gun-control group Everytown to handle strategy and communications and serve as Schumer's "eyes and ears" on Feinstein, as one Senate source put it. Schumer's office declined to comment.
Schumer had several serious and painful talks with Feinstein, according to well-informed sources. Overtures were also made to enlist the help of Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum. Feinstein, meanwhile, was surprised and upset by Schumer's message. He had wanted her to step aside on her own terms, with her dignity intact, but "she wasn't really all that aware of the extent to which she'd been compromised," one well-informed Senate source told me. "It was hurtful and distressing to have it pointed out." Compounding the problem, Feinstein seemed to forget about the conversations soon after they talked, so Schumer had to confront her again. "It was like Groundhog Day, but with the pain fresh each time." Anyone who has tried to take the car keys away from an elderly relative knows how hard it can be, he said, adding that, in this case, "It wasn't just about a car. It was about the U.S. Senate."
This may settle the immediate strife within the Democratic caucus. But Congress's gerontocracy problem shows no sign of abating. If Republicans hold the Senate majority next year after Georgia's two runoff races, the likely chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be Chuck Grassley, of Iowa. Now eighty-seven, he is just three months younger than Feinstein. And he has said that he is considering running for reëlection in 2022.
More at the link as I think mayer's reporting should get clicks