Some progressives have taken to calling Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California a “corporate democrat.”
That’s not meant as a term of endearment. However, for at least one day I have another name for her: My hero.
Feinstein is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Yesterday she released the 300-plus page transcript of Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn R. Simpson’s interview with committee staff.
This caused much consternation for the committee’s chairman and political game-player Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Simpson himself had asked for the 10-hour August interview to be released, but Grassley refused.
Fusion GPS produced the infamous dossier about President Donald Trump back while he was running for office. Grassley claimed the release of the transcript “undermines the integrity of the committee’s oversight work.”
Of course, Grassley would be more convincing if he and his fellow Republicans had shown an ounce of integrity of their own in their sham investigations of Trump. In reality, all the GOP has tried to do in most of its congressional investigations is protect the president, and in the process has provided cover for Russia in its meddling into the 2016 election.
The dossier was prepared by Christopher Steele, a British ex-spy working for Fusion GPS, as opposition research against Trump during the campaign. Steele eventually contacted the FBI over concerns about the information he was gathering.
Republicans have attempted to discredit Fusion GPS and Steele, claiming the dossier is a politically motivated document. It’s all part of the Right’s continuing attempt to discredit the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller, undermine their investigation and save Trump.
Grassley and cohort Senator Lindsey Graham recently made a criminal referral against Steele, suggesting he be investigated for possible lying to the FBI about “the distribution of claims from the dossier,” CBS News reported.
Feinstein said the reason she released the transcript is because the American people have a right to know what’s going on. It contains no classified material.
She’s right.
And this is good for another reason. It’s nice to finally see a Democrat stand up to all the bullshit spewed by the Republicans on an almost daily basis. It’s important to handle yourself in a professional manner, but sometimes you have to punch back.
The Republicans will lie, cheat and steal to get what they want. They’re a party without scruples or a moral compass. Their agenda is against pretty much everything the Democratic Party stands for and in some cases what this country is supposed to stand for.
Feinstein’s figurative middle finger to Grassley was a good start, but I’d like to see our side more willing to call out and confront the GOP when the need arises, and it arises often. I’m talking about more than just bland speeches and statements.
It’s been written here that when you take the high road but your opponent continues to take the low road all you get is run over. The Republicans are ruthless and feel they own the whole road. It’s time to knock them into a guardrail.
Our country is going in a dangerous direction under Trump, who’s the most incompetent and corrupt president in our history, and a Republican-controlled Congress that prostrates itself before him on a daily basis.
Trump and the Republicans like to fancy themselves as the party of strength. They’re not. They’re just a bunch of political cowards pursing their own destructive agenda.
The stakes are too high to back down or worry about being the nice guy. Sometimes you just can’t be the nice guy anymore.
Just ask Dianne Feinstein.
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