Today In Dianne Feinstein Is Terrible

The Democratic Senator with the lowest WAR argues that awful judicial nominee Michael Boggs has an important supporter:

Maybe Michael P. Boggs still has a chance to become a federal judge in Georgia.

A senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday that John Lewis, the Georgia Democratic congressman and civil rights leader, thought a deal between the White House and Georgia’s GOP senators to fill a variety of federal judgeships provided for “a good ticket.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., was asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” if she would vote against Boggs or seek to block his ascension to the federal bench.

“Well, not at this stage,” Feinstein said, before expanding on her answer.

“I want to meet with him. I want to talk with him. I wanted to go through the committee hearing first. I did do that. I think the questions are very apparent. I know he has some very strong support, even in the African-American community in the state of Georgia. I have spoken to John Lewis about him in the House. And I have great respect for John Lewis, who felt that this was a good ticket,” Feinstein said. “I have got to do my own due diligence. And when I’m ready, I’ll vote.”

Well, I happen to have John Lewis right here, and:

I have fought long and hard and even put my life on the line for the cause of equal rights and social justice. My commitment to these ideals has never changed, and my record is solid and unwavering. I take a back-seat to no one and have been at the forefront for decades in defense of the right to marry, a women’s right to choose, and the imperative of non-violence as a means of dissent. I have worked tirelessly to rid Georgia, the South, and this nation from the stain of racial discrimination in any form, including the display of Confederate emblems in the Georgia state flag. I am not about to change that position now.

I have tried to refrain from making public statements out of respect for my colleagues and the Senate process. I believe it is important to allow each candidate to be evaluated according to his or her own merits and to allow the Senate judicial nomination process to take its course. This willingness to permit due process is all that I have indicated in any conversation I may have had with my colleagues. I did not at any time indicate my support for the Boggs nomination or say that he had the backing of the African American community in Georgia.

Based on the evidence revealed during this hearing, I do not support the confirmation of Michael Boggs to the federal bench. His record is in direct opposition to everything I have stood for during my career, and his misrepresentation of that record to the committee is even more troubling. The testimony suggests Boggs may allow his personal political leanings to influence his impartiality on the bench. I do not have a vote in the Senate, but if I did I would vote against the confirmation of Michael Boggs.

So Feinstein is going to come out against Boggs now, right? Why are you laughing?

[via]