 Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is approximately 1,273 years old, is reportedly in cognitive decline. And to make matters worse, she's been missing Senate Judiciary hearings for months now because she has a really bad case of the shingles, like the made worse, by her old age. Now, this is a problem because her absence has led to Biden's judicial appointments being stalled. They can't be confirmed without her being there. Now, given that our civil rights and civil liberties are under attack by far-right Federalist Society judges, I'd argue that confirming new judges should be one of, if not the highest priority for Democrats. I mean, this is really the one area where Biden can actually make a difference as president. But because Dianne Feinstein chose to cling to power rather than resign, it's created this issue for Democrats. Now, what they need to do is exert pressure on her to resign, but they don't want to do that, and I get it that's uncomfortable to have that conversation with a colleague. But the compromise here is unreasonable, in my opinion. Chuck Schumer is trying to temporarily replace her so that way the work can continue. The problem is that replacing her on this committee, even if it's temporarily, requires unanimous consent. Now, ask yourself this question. Do you think that Republicans are going to go along with that? No. Republicans, predictably, are not going along with that. And they're benefiting from this absence. So what would possess you to think that they're suddenly going to allow a temporary replacement so Biden's judicial appointments can be confirmed? Who is naive enough to think that they would go along with that? Well, apparently Chuck Schumer. HuffPost reports, a pair of Republicans who serve on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee made clear they won't vote to replace the 89 year old California Democrat on the panel, as she has requested due to health issues that have kept her away from Washington for nearly two months. Shocker here. Quote, I will not go along with Chuck Schumer's plan to replace Senator Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee and pack the court with activist judges. Joe Biden wants the Senate to rubber stamp his unqualified and controversial judges to radically transform America. That's how ironic Senator Marshall Blackburn tweeted on Monday. Senator Tom Cotton also urged Republicans over the weekend to not assist Democrats in confirming Joe Biden's most radical nominees to the courts. So this is not shocking. The only thing that's shocking about this is that only two Republicans have said that they're not going to go along with this publicly. But this was obviously always going to be what they do. Republicans are going to Republican. So this was never a realistic solution in the first place. What is a realistic solution, even if it is uncomfortable for Democrats to say this, is to get Dianne Feinstein to fucking retire. But she's refusing to retire. And as a result, she is single-handedly jeopardizing progress in the one area where, again, Biden can actually make a difference as president, as Mark Joseph Stern put it, by refusing to retire, Feinstein is making it impossible for Senate Democrats to push through the kind of diverse and progressive nominees whom Biden championed in his first two years. His track record on nominations is suddenly falling badly behind. This is an absolute disaster. He continues here, They're making their priorities clear, and he's right about that. The collective response from Democrats has basically been very, very wishy-washy. There's been a couple of Democrats to their credit who have spoken out and called on Feinstein to resign, Ro Khanna being one, Amy Klobuchar being another to her credit. But other Democrats, even ones who you would expect to do better, aren't willing to do that. Even Bernie Sanders is saying, no, I don't think it's right to force her to resign. Now, I understand Bernie Sanders, who is also a very old senator, doesn't want to be in this position where you base whether or not somebody should retire on their age, but it's not about age, right? It's not about age at all. In fact, I'd argue the fact that Diane Feinstein is super-duper old doesn't make her unqualified. What makes her unqualified and unfit to serve is the fact that she is in cognitive decline and is incapable of doing her job. So you can be 500 years old. I don't care. So long as you're all there and you're able to perform the duties that the people elected you to do, you can stay there. Nobody's arguing that you should be forced to retire as soon as you reach a certain age. We're not proposing age limits. We're simply reasonably asking you to step down if you can no longer fulfill your obligations. But that isn't the overall message from Democrats. It's a mixed message. HuffPost continues, including on the debt ceiling that would require the California senator's presence. But then you have other senators saying the opposite, quote, the decision about whether somebody should resign rests on that individual themselves, Senator Bernie Sanders told MSNBCs inside with Jen Psaki, quote, I don't think she should be forced out. Rare Bernie L here, quote, we believe a senator should be able to make their own judgments about when they're retiring added Senator Kirsten Gillibrand during a Sunday interview on CNN State of the Union, quote, she has the right, in my opinion, to decide when she steps down. Now, on top of that, you have Nancy Pelosi implying that Ro Khanna is sexist and anyone else is sexist if they dare to suggest that Diane Feinstein retire. Now, I really need politicians, including Bernie Sanders, apparently, to understand that this isn't about them. This isn't about Diane Feinstein. This isn't about anyone politician. These politicians need to learn to decentralize themselves from these conversations and realize this is about the people who they represent, their constituents. And Diane Feinstein, factually speaking, has not been able to represent her constituents for years now. I mean, how long have we had reports that she is in cognitive decline, but this just makes matters worse. I mean, her inability to govern isn't just affecting her constituents, even it's affecting the entire country. And yet she chooses to selfishly cling to power despite doing active harm now. And let's be clear, Diane Feinstein is and always has been a very shitty senator. It's not like we're trying to protect her wonderful legacy. I mean, this is the same person who basically told little kids concerned about climate change to go fuck themselves. Remember that? Basically any other corporate Democrat could replace her and nobody would notice. Nothing would really fundamentally change. The difference would be that you'd have one extra vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee to confirm Biden's nominations, but that's not happening. And now the same accusations of sexism are being floated, which was true with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Remember when there were calls for her to resign and Obama had a very gentle conversation trying to nudge her in that direction and she was defiant? Well, do I have to really remind everyone what happened after Ruth Bader Ginsburg selfishly chose to cling to power? Like I know that there's a little bit of taboo against speaking ill of the dead and liberals are going to be mad that I'm bringing this up. But Ruth Bader Ginsburg fucked over the entire country because she chose to cling to power. She could have retired under Obama, but she didn't. And as a result, she died during Trump's presidency. And I know that that wasn't her plan, but it happened. She died because she refused to retire when she had the chance to. And she was replaced by Amy Coney Barrett, who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. So it's not about these politicians. It's not sexist to suggest that somebody who is very old and ill should retire if they're unable to fulfill their obligations. This is about the American people and us having our rights protected, what's left of our rights protected. So any politician who is refusing to unequivocally call for her resignation immediately, they're wrong. And they're putting this one woman's ego above the civil rights and civil liberties of our entire fucking country. And I find that morally reprehensible. And I love Bernie Sanders, but he is so wrong here. I get that he's old, too, and he doesn't want to be in a similar position. But I'm sorry, Bernie, if it comes to a point where you are no longer able to fulfill your obligations as a senator, people will be right to call on you to resign as well, but it hasn't reached that point. You can still fulfill your obligations. You're showing up to your committee hearings. You are still cognitively there. So this is about whether or not somebody cannot perform mentally and physically and she cannot. So obviously she must resign. That's the obvious solution. But Democrats are probably not going to call on her to resign. And as a result, we're all going to be fucked. Why? Because of this one lady's ego. It's just pathetic, but she could have retired literally decades ago and just taken all of her millions of dollars and just chilled on her yacht. But she chose to cling to power for selfish reasons. And now even when she is sick and cannot fulfill her obligation, she still refuses to give up power. And it's just, it's sick. These elites, again, are not the main characters and somebody needs to tell them that them being in power, it's not about them, it's about us. You represent us. So when you can't represent us, step the fuck aside and allow someone who can do your job.