DON'T FORGET FEINSTEIN
To: The Rittenhouse Review
From: V.W.
Date: April 1, 2003
Speaking of continually disappointing, you omitted my senator, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). [Ed.: See "Is Your State Being Underserved? Senators of the 108th Congress," The Rittenhouse Review, March 30.]
Sen. Feinstein can speak very well but vote very badly when the vote counts: e.g., pro Bush tax cut, pro rollover for Bush resolution on Iraq in spite of overwhelming opposition from her constituents. My other senator, Barbara Boxer (D), and my representative, Susan Davis (D), both took the courageous high road and voted against conceding authority to President George W. Bush.
To quote Sen. Feinstein's Senate floor speech of October 10, 2002 regarding her position on the Iraq resolution:
I serve as the Senior Senator from California, representing 35 million people. That is a formidable task. People have weighed in by the tens of thousands. If I were just to cast a representative vote based on those who have voiced their opinions with my office and with no other factors, I would have to vote against this resolution.
But as a member of the Intelligence Committee, as someone who has read and discussed and studied the history of Iraq, the record of obfuscation and the terror Saddam Hussein has sown, one comes to the conclusion that he remains a consequential threat.
Although the ties between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda are tenuous, there should be no question that his entire government is forged and held together by terror.
In other words, Sen. Feinstein knows more than her constituents and their opinions are irrelevant.
By the way, 2002 was not an election year for her, so a difficult reelection campaign wasn't a factor.
V.W.
