Opinion - Hillary Clinton: Our nation is in dire need of leaders like Dianne Feinstein

[BumRushDaShow]

Hillary Clinton: Our nation is in dire need of leaders like Dianne Feinstein


By Hillary Rodham Clinton
October 2, 2023 at 7:30 a.m. EDT


Hillary Rodham Clinton is a former U.S. senator, secretary of state and Democratic nominee for president in 2016.


One day, on the floor of the Senate in 1993, Idaho Republican Larry Craig condescended to Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic sponsor of a proposed ban on assault weapons. “The gentle lady from California needs to become a little bit more familiar with firearms and their deadly characteristics,” he said. Craig, a board member of the National Rifle Association, had picked the wrong target. “I am quite familiar with firearms,” Dianne responded, with fire in her eyes. “I became mayor as a product of assassination. I found my assassinated colleague and put a finger through a bullet hole trying to get a pulse. I was trained in the shooting of a firearm when I had terrorist attacks, with a bomb in my house, when my husband was dying, when I had windows shot out. Senator, I know something about what firearms can do.”

Craig was left sputtering, and the Senate passed the assault weapons ban thanks to Dianne’s tireless advocacy. My husband proudly signed the ban and it helped keep millions of Americans safer for a decade. Feinstein, who passed away on Thursday evening, was a giant of the Senate. She was brave, honorable, honest and unafraid to do what was right for her constituents and her country. We both came to Washington in 1993, I as first lady and Dianne as senator. When she used her first floor speech to support the Family and Medical Leave Act, I knew I had found a kindred spirit.

When I joined Dianne in the small sisterhood of Senate women eight years later, I gained an appreciation for her blend of principle and pragmatism. In an institution known for show horses, she was a workhorse. Perhaps because she had been a mayor, she believed in delivering results not rhetoric — and that’s what she did. Dianne was tough and sometimes formal, but she had a big heart and enormous compassion. She was an early advocate for LGBTQ rights and people suffering from HIV and AIDS. As a trailblazer for women in politics, she opened space for those of us who followed.

I learned a tremendous amount from Dianne. We strategized, commiserated, laughed, drank California chardonnay and one time even planned a covert operation: Dianne hosted a secret meeting in the living room of her Northwest D.C. home, where then-Sen. Barack Obama and I made peace after the grueling 2008 primary. We chose to meet there because we both trusted Dianne. (She let us in, offered a glass of wine and left us alone.). For all of us who loved Dianne, her passing is a deep personal loss. It is also a loss for our country when we are in desperate need of leaders willing to show half the backbone she displayed throughout her storied career.

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More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/02/hillary-clinton-dianne-feinstein/

Supposedly this Opinion piece is "free" from WaPo but just in case - no paywall (gift)

[Cartoonist]

1. As a Californian, I have my quibbles.

I applaud her accomplishments, but there are two things I cannot forgive. One is her support for punishing flag burners. I don't approve of flag burning, but that is clearly an expression of free speech.
The other thing pisses me off. In GW's early presidency, there was talk of a peace dividend. Clinton had produced a surplus that could have gone to schools, health care, the environment, and other programs for the benefit of all. Instead the repubs used it for tax cuts for the rich. The wealthy Senator from California was all in on that.
Thanks for nothing.

[2naSalit]

2. She gets...

An eternal gold star for putting Senator wide-stance in his place. He is such a flaming asshole as well as a smoldering POS.