{"id":1702,"date":"2023-11-17T17:59:58","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T18:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shinsori.me\/?p=1702"},"modified":"2023-11-17T21:56:43","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T21:56:43","slug":"should-senators-have-term-or-age-limits-for-serving-opinion-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shinsori.me\/index.php\/2023\/11\/17\/should-senators-have-term-or-age-limits-for-serving-opinion-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Should senators have term or age limits for serving? | Opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

\n

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is flanked by aides as she returns to the Senate Judiciary Committee following a more than two-month absence, in Washington on May 11, 2023. Feinstein died on Sept. 28 at age 90.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Dianne Feinstein<\/a>, D-Calif., the nation\u2019s oldest sitting senator, died on Sept. 28, age 90. She was a trailblazing<\/a> senator who served effectively for most of her career, until gradually, and then more apparently, she didn\u2019t. <\/p>\n

Feinstein\u2019s slide from able senator to an incompetent one was a slow process. While the more subtle signs of Feinstein\u2019s cognitive impairment were undoubtedly apparent years earlier <\/b>to Feinstein\u2019s family, close friends and political allies, the more overt signs were already publicly clear almost three years ago. <\/p>\n

At that time, Feinstein, then 87 and the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked Jack Dorsey whether Twitter\u2019s labeling of President Donald Trump\u2019s Nov. 7 tweet claiming that he had won the 2020 presidential election as \u201cdisputed\u201d had adequately alerted readers that it was a bold-faced lie. Shockingly, after Dorsey answered, Feinstein proceeded to ask the very same question<\/a> without being aware of what she was doing. <\/p>\n

Shortly after the 2020 election, Feinstein was forced to relinquish the top Democratic spot on the Judiciary Committee<\/a> but only after her inept handling of Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearing and the fear that she was not up to leading a crucial panel at the forefront of the partisan war over the courts in the new Biden administration. <\/p>\n

Feinstein\u2019s mental acuity had noticeably worsened since then. In early 2023, she was absent from the Senate for 21<\/sup>\u20442<\/sub> months while recovering from complications of herpes zoster<\/a> (shingles), which included left-sided facial paralysis and inflammation of her brain (encephalitis). Upon her May 2023 return, she looked very frail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shortly thereafter, she appeared to tell<\/a> a reporter at the Capitol that she had never been gone. That statement should shock all Americans, except those who have a family member living with dementia \u2014 like me. It also happened over five months ago, yet Feinstein continued to toil as a United States senator. <\/p>\n

Even before her recent illness, Feinstein withstood multiple rounds of calls for her resignation, as unflattering anecdotes emerged about her memory lapses and her perceived cognitive decline, as well as her visible reliance on aides in public-facing aspects of her job.<\/p>\n

\n
Related<\/div>\n