DiFi could barely get out of the limo into the wheelchair to go to her office in the Senate.
She asked where she was going.
She told reporters she never left, physically
She can’t remember. Allegedly, her behavior gets worse as the sun goes down.
And if she ever had a slums test, she wouldn’t pass it, likely.
I have aligned with DiFi as a constituent for most of my life, but she is no longer all there. I’m really against seeing this play out for brute political reasons.
If we are gonna say someone shouldn’t serve on a jury for these conditions, why is she allowed to continue as a sitting us senator?
I have a friend who had post-herpetic (shingles) encephalitis when she was in her mid-late 70s and she's been left with permanant damage, neuropathy in her feet and hands. She's 81 now and said her cognition isn't what it was, especially short term memory, but she's not sure it's because of the encephalitis or would have happened any way as both her parents had dementia in their older years (mom with Parkinson's). During and for some months after the encephalitis, she said she really felt she was in a mental fog, but that eased up over time as did the neuropathy and both seem stable now.
I think that DiFi, who I've greatly admired over her long career, has been failing for some years now; such is the gossip out of SF. And I fear that there's nothing in place in government to address a situation like this. It's a tragedy for me to see this end for this woman.
BUT, I think you could just have something here: the truth is that Newsom would likely appoint Barbara Lee. And for the most part I think the party would prefer someone more middle of the road and less progressive than Lee--my guess would be Schiff would get the vote of most. The thought is that whomever HOLDS the seat by appointment has the edge to winning in the next election. Therefore, if Lee got in she would have an edge, and if DiFi can hold on until them Schiff has a better chance.
While I might wish this discussion was in "Discussions", it does point out that there simply MUST be a way to address a person's fitness to hold such an office. Once that road is taken one wonders at the accusations of incompetence that would fly continuously. I don't see a good answer.
Your post is pure political propaganda.
There are three dem candidates that want to run for difi’s seat in 2024: Kary Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee. If DIFi were to retire early, Newsom has already said he would appoint a black woman. Who would be Lee and critically not Schiff, a white man.
Schiff is who Pelosi wants. Pelosi’s daughter is now instilled to shadow DiFi, who doesn’t know where she is.
DiFi (as Herb Caen, local SF columnist back in the day called her) would not want to end her career in this way.
At first when I saw this discussion, I thought it not appropriate to the forum, but on further thought I think it may be.
Living in SF I greatly admire this woman. But the fact she may not be competent to serve due to aging issues now is a concern for our entire country, imho.
I don't so much see this as "about politics" as I do an issue of aging. So from that standpoint appropriate (again, just my opinion) to an elder forum.
I sure do think it were better placed in "discussions", a place I try to spend less time than I do answering questions from our OPs.
Pilots and air traffic controllers have a mandatory retirement age for our safety . I don’t feel comfortable with these people making decisions any longer with our national security , nor our rights .
We need new blood in our government . Sorry but it’s time to let the working generation be represented by people their age, who can relate to current situations . The average age of a senator is in the mid 60’s, and a number of them are in their 80’s.
President Woodrow Wilson suffered a series of strokes over a period of more than 20 years beginning before he was elected president. He had a disabling stroke in 1919, and the seriousness of it was concealed from the public. He served out his term, which expired in 2021. His wife Edith conspired in the cover-up and "helped" the president run the country.
What's happening now is not new. It keeps happening but nothing is done about it.
just saying.
Why didn’t the doctors get her to retire ?
Nancy Pelosi's daughter is Feinstein's caretaker now, so that gets even weirder.
It's all just really sad and shouldn't be about politics at all. Feinstein's cognitive abilities are severely compromised, and she shouldn't be sitting on on of the most powerful committees in Congress. All of us here know very well that dementia patients don't recover well from major medical problems, and she's not going to improve.
I want a functioning senator, and we haven't had that from Dianne Feinstein in years. She shouldn't have run for re-election in 2018, as her cognitive issues have been known since back then.
I think all any of us have is what has been reported. We don't live with DiFi and we aren't her doctors.
In SF much has been reported about this woman, much beloved in this city. The reports actually started as long ago as the Kavanaugh hearings when it was suggested that she was not grasping what was going on and her aids were having to intervene often. That was, as I recall, the FIRST rumors, but they were then ongoing.
Being an old retired nurse isn't much relevant here imho. It is rumors that are, and then where you find your information, and who has "skin in the game" on what they are reporting. The fact that for a long time now, reports are coming from those who truly love this woman, is concerning. And for me "may be" telling.
I think none of us can know. Like this thread itself, it is rumor, conjecture, and the supposition that something is wrong. Whether you CARE for her (as I most certainly do) or you do not, something, imho, is very wrong.