Senator Feinstein Does the Right Thing

It's not often I can offer praise for a California Senator since they are so often on the wrong side of political issues, but on this rare occassion I must commend Senator Feinstein for risking the wrath of Chuckie Schumer and voting a highly qualified jurist out of the Judicial Committee. Generalissimo Duane Patterson describes the vote and the scene in the committee at HughHewitt.com:

The Senate Judiciary Committee just wrapped up business for the week, and they heard statements from all the members of the committee as to how they were going to vote on the matter of the Leslie Southwick nomination. If you will recall, yesterday, Republican leader Mitch McConnell went through the steps of offering a Sense of the Senate resolution to try and get some kind of a vote on the floor for the 5th Circuit Court nominee that had been languishing in the Judiciary Committee. Predictably, members indicated they were going to vote along party lines, defeating the nomination of Southwick in committee, until California Senator Dianne Feinstein broke ranks and indicated she was going to vote him out.

While she was reading her statement, the camera showed New York Senator Chuck Schumer, the man who last week indicated that President Bush should not get any more judicial picks because he says so, showing an expression that went from stunned to bilious.

The vote just concluded in the committee, and Judge Southwick has been reported out favorably to the full Senate for consideration, 10-9. Senator McConnell, not wasting any time, has already publicly called for quick floor action on Southwick. The Sense of the Senate amendment he offered yesterday has apparently served as a shot across the bow to at least one Democratic Senator on the Judiciary Committee. Now the fun begins on the Senate floor, where McConnell can really go to work on Senator Reid. Senator Reid, your move. Now that Southwick has been reported to the floor for a vote, you might have trouble getting unanimous consent to ask for the time and temperature to be read aloud.

Senator Feinstein may be in for "cleansing" from the wacky left. She's already getting heat from the lefty nutjobs:

AND THIS MONTH'S VICHY DEMOCRAT AWARD GOES TO...Diane Feinstein, who cast the key vote to let arch-reactionary Leslie Southwick out of the Judiciary Committee. Apparently, she saw the Roberts Court's first term, liked what she saw, and figured that the federal courts could use yet another neoconfederate judge. This would be one thing if it was a Southern Democrat, as opposed to someone in a safe-as-milk seat in one of the most liberal states in the country. Well played! Not that this is shocking; she's been an appalling wet for a long time. California really needs to get two Democrats in the Senate at some point.

That really got his skirts in a wad, didn't it. The only reason the average IQ of California Senators is in triple digits is because of Feinstein. If we got another one like Barbara "Dumb-as-a-Box-of-Rocks" Boxer in Washington, California would have to apply for a third Senator to help the other two find their way around.