The Washington Post, as well as several leftists, are criticizing Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for her performance at the hearings this week for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, including Feinstein’s praise for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Feinstein is the ranking member on the committee.
The Post tracked down Feinstein critics for its report and even trashed her on mask protocol:
As a contentious week of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett wrapped up Thursday, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee had little to offer but praise.
“This has been one of the best set of hearings that I’ve participated in,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). “It leaves one with a lot of hopes, a lot of questions and even some ideas perhaps of good bipartisan legislation we can put together.”
If that wasn’t enough to anger Democrats — who have spent this week trying to paint Barrett’s nomination process as a sham — Feinstein also thanked the committee’s chair, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), and then walked across the room to wrap him in a hug. Never mind that neither senator was wearing a face mask. Many Democrats were so much more incensed about what that hug symbolized — a final white flag, a compliment for Graham after a comparatively tame week of questioning — that, hours later, at least two liberal activist groups called for Feinstein to go.
“It’s time for Senator Feinstein to step down from her leadership position on the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Brian Fallon, the executive director of Demand Justice, said in a statement. “If she won’t, her colleagues need to intervene.”
Demand Justice is a left-wing organization run by Fallon, former national press secretary for the failed Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
Fallon’s organization called Barrett’s nomination “the most egregious partisan power grab” in the high court’s modern history.
Feinstein said the Senate vote against Barrett is what counts.
“Judiciary Committee Democrats had one goal this week: to show what’s at stake under a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court — and we did that,” Feinstein said in a statement Thursday. “We showed that Judge Barrett has a long history of opposing the Affordable Care Act and Roe v. Wade and represents the vote to overturn both.”
The Post, like Democrats, claimed that Barrett being seated on the Supreme Court would mean an imminent threat to left-wing causes, including abortion on demand, universal health care, and gay marriage.
“That she praised Graham’s oversight of the process, and then got up and hugged him, was simply the final provocation for many liberals,” the Post reported.
“That she can say this about this ongoing travesty,” Jon Lovett, a former aide to President Barack Obama and cohost of Pod Save America, said, “is another sad statement about how poorly represented we are by Dianne Feinstein.”
The Post implied Feinstein’s age is an issue and treated a Saturday Night Live skit as political analysis.
“But in recent years, the 87-year-old senator has often gotten more attention for her gaffes,” the Post reported. “Last year, she was panned on Saturday Night Live for a now-infamous interaction in which she dismissed a group of schoolchildren asking her to advocate for the Green New Deal.”
“And even before the Senate took up another nomination this month, Democrats expressed concerns that Feinstein — the oldest lawmaker in her chamber and the second-oldest in Congress — had grown too disengaged to fight the GOP tooth-and-nail over the future of Ginsburg’s seat,” the Post reported.
“I don’t care that Feinstein and Graham are friends,” Susan Hennessey, executive editor of the left-wing Lawfare blog, said in the Post report. “I care that Feinstein catastrophically mismanaged the hearings, was outwitted without realizing it, and did a grave disservice to the public.”
The Post said Feinstein’s critics are “floating ideas” for how to force her out and replace her with former Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), who was forced from office after a scandal involving staff.
The Post quoted a comedian to conclude its hit piece.
“Time to retire,” Billy Eichner said on Twitter.
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