Sen. Dianne Feinstein's Deterioration

[Rhea]

Or <danger...crazy talk ahead> appoint someone qualified for the job without regard to their race, gender or sexual orientation. Like that MLK guy used to say.

Well, it’s ridiculously easy to accomplish BOTH - unless for some reason you don’t think there are any qualified Black women?

 

[Rhea]

It was a bit of shock when I saw the news this morning about Feinstein. Not unexpected though. She did a good a job as one could expect, especially when you look at all the knuckleheads currently occupying the Capitol. And she managed to keep her nose clean, for the most part. RIP, Dianne Feinstein.

Apparently Gavin has said he is going to appoint a black woman to finish out her term. What is the deal with appointing black women to high positions these days?

Might be the historical / contemporary lack of black women in positions in power.

Biden did the same thing for the VP and Supreme Court spots (and his press secretary too, KJP, but I'm not sure if he declared he was actively seeking a black woman for that). Are black women at the top of the progressive stack now, and if so, how did they get there?

On hand, it seems like a specific group that is a tad bit unrepresented. On the other hand, black women vote for Democrats at absurdly high levels. So it would be politically pragmatic to recognize a group of people that overwhelmingly support your candidacies.

This. Why would you NOT:
- Elevate a group that has historically been fighting barriers and prevented from these positions
- despite being extremely reliable voters
- While it is ridiculously easy to identify one who is eminently qualified
- and it will make an extremely powerful group of your voters very happy.

It would be political malpratice NOT to.

 

[Toni]

It was a bit of shock when I saw the news this morning about Feinstein. Not unexpected though. She did a good a job as one could expect, especially when you look at all the knuckleheads currently occupying the Capitol. And she managed to keep her nose clean, for the most part. RIP, Dianne Feinstein.

Apparently Gavin has said he is going to appoint a black woman to finish out her term. What is the deal with appointing black women to high positions these days? Biden did the same thing for the VP and Supreme Court spots (and his press secretary too, KJP, but I'm not sure if he declared he was actively seeking a black woman for that). Are black women at the top of the progressive stack now, and if so, how did they get there? Why focus on another black woman, as opposed to say an Asian woman (or man) or maybe a Hispanic gay guy. Or <danger...crazy talk ahead> appoint someone qualified for the job without regard to their race, gender or sexual orientation. Like that MLK guy used to say.

I dunno. Maybe because we're still working through some stuff re: qualified candidates were only considered qualified if they were white, male and passably straight?

Given Feinstein's deteriorating health, it is extremely likely that there has been a working short list of candidates to replace her should she be unable to fulfill the term of her office. Doubtless, they will have been well vetted and tested to see who would be most acceptable to the voters and to the party.

 

[TomC]

Might be the historical / contemporary lack of black women in positions in power.

Exactly.
If none of your top 20 candidates for such a position are a black woman, maybe the problem is your search parameters.

Ya know who I'd love to see in there? Oprah Winfrey. She's incredibly smart and accomplished. Great communicator, name recognition...
Imagine if Winfrey did a special show on the importance of "Get out the Vote!"

Unfortunately, I doubt she'd lower herself enough to accept a Senate seat.
Tom

 

[bilby]

What is the deal with appointing black women to high positions these days?

They're just doing it to pwn the fascists.

 

[bilby]

Ya know who I'd love to see in there? Oprah Winfrey. She's incredibly smart and accomplished. Great communicator, name recognition...

...peddler of woo and utter nonsense, entertainer with no particular skills other than as a salesperson for herself, and her meritless causes. She would fit right in, but frankly you probably need some people who are NOT self-promoting peddlers of nonsense in your Senate, if only as a change from the norm.

 

[Toni]

Might be the historical / contemporary lack of black women in positions in power.

Exactly.
If none of your top 20 candidates for such a position are a black woman, maybe the problem is your search parameters.

Ya know who I'd love to see in there? Oprah Winfrey. She's incredibly smart and accomplished. Great communicator, name recognition...
Imagine if Winfrey did a special show on the importance of "Get out the Vote!"

Unfortunately, I doubt she'd lower herself enough to accept a Senate seat.
Tom

She also gave us Dr. Oz so.....

I like and admire Winfrey very much and respect her many accomplishments but I don't want to see her in political office.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Might be the historical / contemporary lack of black women in positions in power.

Exactly.
If none of your top 20 candidates for such a position are a black woman, maybe the problem is your search parameters.

Ya know who I'd love to see in there? Oprah Winfrey. She's incredibly smart and accomplished. Great communicator, name recognition...
Imagine if Winfrey did a special show on the importance of "Get out the Vote!"

Unfortunately, I doubt she'd lower herself enough to accept a Senate seat.
Tom

She also gave us Dr. Oz so.....

I like and admire Winfrey very much and respect her many accomplishments but I don't want to see her in political office.

She accomplished a lot and got very wealthy... but was a seller of bullshit. Unfettered bullshit. She didn't become a viable media personality for a long while. And even then, providing people like Dr. Oz a chance to sell more bullshit. By far, the most successful of the trash talk show hosts. And then did good things.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It was a bit of shock when I saw the news this morning about Feinstein. Not unexpected though. She did a good a job as one could expect, especially when you look at all the knuckleheads currently occupying the Capitol. And she managed to keep her nose clean, for the most part. RIP, Dianne Feinstein.

Apparently Gavin has said he is going to appoint a black woman to finish out her term. What is the deal with appointing black women to high positions these days? Biden did the same thing for the VP and Supreme Court spots (and his press secretary too, KJP, but I'm not sure if he declared he was actively seeking a black woman for that). Are black women at the top of the progressive stack now, and if so, how did they get there? Why focus on another black woman, as opposed to say an Asian woman (or man) or maybe a Hispanic gay guy. Or <danger...crazy talk ahead> appoint someone qualified for the job without regard to their race, gender or sexual orientation. Like that MLK guy used to say.

I dunno. Maybe because we're still working through some stuff re: qualified candidates were only considered qualified if they were white, male and passably straight?

Given Feinstein's deteriorating health, it is extremely likely that there has been a working short list of candidates to replace her should she be unable to fulfill the term of her office. Doubtless, they will have been well vetted and tested to see who would be most acceptable to the voters and to the party.

It is time to move on from qualified black women candidates being "well spoken" and instead being "leaders".

 

[thebeave]

Might be the historical / contemporary lack of black women in positions in power.

Exactly.
If none of your top 20 candidates for such a position are a black woman, maybe the problem is your search parameters.

Ya know who I'd love to see in there? Oprah Winfrey. She's incredibly smart and accomplished. Great communicator, name recognition...
Imagine if Winfrey did a special show on the importance of "Get out the Vote!"

Unfortunately, I doubt she'd lower herself enough to accept a Senate seat.
Tom

Keep in mind that only about 6 - 7% of the population are black women. Let's be generous and say 10% of adults in general have the educational background, interest and determination to be in the top levels of government. Not to mention having to meet age and citizenship requirements, etc. Given that, statistically I would not expect to see any black females in your top 20 candidates. Even for one of the 100 US Senator slots, the odds are against having even one.

I admire Oprah a lot for her drive and perserverence and being a huge success while starting from nothing. But yeah, I vote a resounding, big fat NO on Oprah for political positions like others here. She should stick with talk show type stuff. Besides, after Trump didn't we learn our lesson about having rich TV stars & business tycoons running the country?

 

[Politesse]

The number one problem in California politics today is that there are just way too many black woman senators. We've had zero already! When does it end? What if there are two some day?

I do dislike those kinds of vague promises of color coded appointments, they play right in to the right-wing narrative and they are rude as hell to the appointee. But let's not pretend the disingenuity is partisan in nature. Both left- and right-wing white politicians (in general) see the appointment of any black person to a position of power as a cynical, populist-minded act. Some get votes by playing along, others get votes by pounding the desk, but they all "know" (that is, believe) that such a concession is all for show. And it shows, more than they think it does, how racist to the core most politicians actually are.

 

[scombrid]

Might be the historical / contemporary lack of black women in positions in power.

Exactly.
If none of your top 20 candidates for such a position are a black woman, maybe the problem is your search parameters.

Ya know who I'd love to see in there? Oprah Winfrey. She's incredibly smart and accomplished. Great communicator, name recognition...
Imagine if Winfrey did a special show on the importance of "Get out the Vote!"

Unfortunately, I doubt she'd lower herself enough to accept a Senate seat.
Tom

Nope. She peddled endless woo (Jenny McCarthy anti-vax nonsense, Dr. Oz, etc...). She's got charisma, grit, and good interpersonal projection. Her awe shucks open mouthed gee whiz act really appealed to a lot of people and was her key to making a fortune selling bullshit. Whenever I'm visiting my brother and they've got the fucking TV tuned to morning network infotainment I see Hoda Cotbee and Jenna Bush using the same kind of tactics to sell whatever shit they're pushing on that particular day.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Keep in mind that only about 6 - 7% of the population are black women. Let's be generous and say 10% of adults in general have the educational background, interest and determination to be in the top levels of government. Not to mention having to meet age and citizenship requirements, etc.

So you have 7% of the 10% are Black women. And you have 93% of the 10% are not Black women.

Given that, statistically I would not expect to see any black females in your top 20 candidates. Even for one of the 100 US Senator slots, the odds are against having even one.

7% of 20 candidates would be 1.4 candidates. You could expect 1 or 2.

7% of 100 is 7. So you could expect around 7 Black women, give or take, for all of the Senate.

However, there are currently 0 Black women. There are, though, 3 Black men:
Tim Scott - SC Republican.
Cory Booker - NJ Democrat. Note Cory Booker is the first African American to serve as NJ Senator ever.
Raphael Warnock - GA Democrat. Note Warnock is the first African American to serve as Georgia Senator ever.

If we assume that Black males also represent about 6% or 7% of the population, then they have about half representation they might have with representation reflecting the population.

However, Black women are seriously under-represented at 0.

I will add here that I think you were trying to say something about educational attainment, but you actually didn't say what you think you meant to say. You especially neither demonstrated how much degrees ought to matter nor proved how we might expect Black women across the country to have no relevant degrees, even if they are needed.

In the meantime, there are quite a few Republicans who by the standard you seem to have wanted to relate to your numbers that you did not prove at all...those Republicans would fail miserably. I will give two examples:

Lauren Boebert:

Boebert was born in Altamonte Springs, Florida, on December 19, 1986.[10] When she was 12, she and her family moved to the Montbello neighborhood of Denver and later to Aurora, Colorado, before settling in Rifle, Colorado, in 2003.[11][12] Boebert dropped out of high school during her senior year in 2004 when she had a baby;[13][14] she earned a GED certificate in 2020, a month before her first election primary.[13][14]

Boebert claims that her family depended on welfare when she was growing up,[15][13][16] and that she was raised in a Democratic household in a liberal area.[16][17] Records at the Colorado secretary of state's office show that her mother was registered to vote in Colorado as a Republican from 2001 to 2013 and as a Democrat from 2015 to 2020.[16] At age 19, Boebert herself registered to vote in 2006 as a Democrat; in 2008, she changed her affiliation to Republican.[16]

According to Boebert, she became religious while attending a church in Glenwood Springs,[18] and that she became a born-again Christian in 2009.[19] She has said she volunteered at a local jail for seven years, but attendance logs at the Garfield County Sheriff's office show that she volunteered at the jail nine times between May 2014 and November 2016.[20]

and George Santos:

George Anthony Devolder Santos[a] was born on July 22, 1988,[12] to Fátima Aziza Caruso Horta Devolder and Gercino Antônio dos Santos Jr. (known as Junior), both of whom were born in Brazil. His maternal grandparents, Paulo Horta Devolder and Rosalina Caruso Horta Devolder, were also born in Brazil. Three of his four maternal great-grandparents were also born in Brazil, with the other born in Belgium in 1863 and immigrating to Brazil in 1884.[13] Fátima Devolder immigrated to Florida as a migrant worker to pick beans in 1985. She later moved to New York City and worked as a housekeeper, cook, and nanny.[14][15] Gercino Santos worked as a house painter.[15] George Santos has a younger sister.[16]

Santos has claimed dual citizenship in the U.S. and Brazil through his parents.[4] In 2013, a Brazilian court described him as an American.[17]

Santos holds a GED (Certificate of High School Equivalency).[2] He attended Intermediate School 125 (also known as I.S. 125 Thomas J. McCann Woodside Intermediate School) in Woodside, Queens and Primary School 122 (also known as P.S.122 The Mamie Fay School) in Astoria, Queens.[18][19]

Santos moved to Niterói, in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area, where his mother Fátima was then living, around 2008 and lived there until 2011,[4][20] although acquaintances of Santos's from that period are unsure whether he lived in Brazil all that time or merely came from the U.S. for visits. Many knew him as Anthony Devolder. Fátima lived in difficult circumstances, working odd jobs, moving around frequently due to unpaid rent and obtaining electricity illegally, but Santos told people his family had money since his father was a high-paid executive in New York. He often seemed to have money himself, and spent freely, but no one could say if he worked in Brazil and if so, what that work was.[21]

Santos, a friend from that time says, was very involved in local LGBT activism, handing out leaflets and regularly attending meetings of a local activist group and Pride parades.[21] Two former acquaintances said that he competed as a drag queen in Brazilian beauty pageants in 2008 using the drag name Kitara Ravache,[22][23] with one saying that Santos began dressing in drag in 2005. Drag perfomer Manoel Antiqueira, who performs as Eula Rochard, recalls Santos returning from a 2007 trip to the U.S. with expensive materials for a dress that were not available in Brazil at the time.[21][c] Santos denied having been a drag queen, calling the allegations "categorically false" and accusing the media of making "outrageous claims about my life";[29] two days later, he said, “No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys. I was young and I had fun at a festival."[30]

The above 2 are high profile, but there are 50 more.

10 US Presidents did not graduate from college, including George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. And Harry Truman...even if 3/4 did graduate, did they all have law degrees to be competent? Take a look at Donald Trump who allegedly had business skills...but really didn't know what limits should be on his executive authority...constantly fucking up. Conservolibertarian Rand Paul has a medical degree, but doesn't hold a bachelors. He's a loon. Oklahoma Senator Mullin has an Associates Degree in construction. Of the current Senate most do have graduate degrees. But about 20 or so only have a Bachelors Degree.

If such a large number only have a bachelors...one cannot really make a claim that they need to be elite in educational attainment.

Though, by the way, it's also true that on average in Congress, it's the Democrats who have more educational attainment than the Republicans.

So one must wonder...what are the real criteria that are used to elect people? Why is a set of criteria that is not in use always brought up whenever someone says something like "you know we really should have more X type people?"

By the way, we know absolutely certainly that IF Newsom picks an African American woman, she WILL ABSOLUTELY have a degree.

 

[thebeave]

You're right, my analysis is has some problems for sure and I realized that after I was already on the road. No time to deal with it now, but I suspect the end result will be the same or similar. Will revisit later in the day.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Might be the historical / contemporary lack of black women in positions in power.

Exactly.
If none of your top 20 candidates for such a position are a black woman, maybe the problem is your search parameters.

Ya know who I'd love to see in there? Oprah Winfrey. She's incredibly smart and accomplished. Great communicator, name recognition...
Imagine if Winfrey did a special show on the importance of "Get out the Vote!"

Unfortunately, I doubt she'd lower herself enough to accept a Senate seat.
Tom

Keep in mind that only about 6 - 7% of the population are black women.

Yes, and having three notable positions being filled by black women wouldn't be that high of a number for that percentage of the country.

Let's be generous and say 10% of adults in general have the educational background, interest and determination to be in the top levels of government. Not to mention having to meet age and citizenship requirements, etc. Given that, statistically I would not expect to see any black females in your top 20 candidates. Even for one of the 100 US Senator slots, the odds are against having even one.

Currently the number is zero.

 

[Gospel]

Keep in mind that only about 6 - 7% of the population are black women. Let's be generous and say 10% of adults in general have the educational background, interest and determination to be in the top levels of government. Not to mention having to meet age and citizenship requirements, etc. Given that, statistically I would not expect to see any black females in your top 20 candidates. Even for one of the 100 US Senator slots, the odds are against having even one.

You overlooked the influence of networking, opportunities, mentorship, and systemic biases. These elements significantly reduce the necessity for specific educational backgrounds, as well as the drive and determination needed to reach the upper echelons. As this reflects some of our current situation, it makes Jimmy's accurate zero even more problematic. Garbage gets in but none of that garbage happens to be black.

 

[Rhea]

Thebeave has already acknowledged that his math wasn’t mathing.
But let’s go ahead and dig into it, because it is sure the be the GOP talking point that we will need to contemplate

Keep in mind that only about 6 - 7% of the population are black women. Let's be generous and say 10% of adults in general have the educational background, interest and determination to be in the top levels of government. Not to mention having to meet age and citizenship requirements, etc. Given that, statistically I would not expect to see any black females in your top 20 candidates. Even for one of the 100 US Senator slots, the odds are against having even one.

If 6-7% of the population are black women, there is NOTHING that prevents them from having higher levels of your requirements, given the very high level of “determination” they demonstrably exhibit.

Moreover, why do you think the “top 20 candidates” will not include several?
I was among only 7% of female chemical engineering students in my years in college, and yet the top TWO students in my class were women. #3 was an American man of Indian descent. # 4 was white male. 5,6,7 women or minorities, #8 was another white male. In general, the 80% group in the college only occupied 20% of the top 10. Perhaps stupid, lazy, uninterested and unmotivated people are overrepresenting in the white-guy group?


What makes you think government candidates can’t be the same?


These ASSUMPTIONS that a tremendously qualified Black woman will be hard to find are absurd on their face.

 

[Toni]

Might be the historical / contemporary lack of black women in positions in power.

Exactly.
If none of your top 20 candidates for such a position are a black woman, maybe the problem is your search parameters.

Ya know who I'd love to see in there? Oprah Winfrey. She's incredibly smart and accomplished. Great communicator, name recognition...
Imagine if Winfrey did a special show on the importance of "Get out the Vote!"

Unfortunately, I doubt she'd lower herself enough to accept a Senate seat.
Tom

She also gave us Dr. Oz so.....

I like and admire Winfrey very much and respect her many accomplishments but I don't want to see her in political office.

She accomplished a lot and got very wealthy... but was a seller of bullshit. Unfettered bullshit. She didn't become a viable media personality for a long while. And even then, providing people like Dr. Oz a chance to sell more bullshit. By far, the most successful of the trash talk show hosts. And then did good things.

Oh, I think she has done a lot of good. One thing that probably is not on the radar of most men: she helped women to talk about sexual assault, rape, trauma. That is enormous on a level that those who have not been so traumatized cannot really fathom.

 

[Toni]

Prior to her death, several prominent t names in the Democratic Party have been mentioned or are actively campaigning to replace Feinstein who had announced she was not running in 2024: Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, are running with Eric Sawell and Ro Khanna also being mentioned. None of these are black women. However, Rep. Barbara Lee has been mentioned—the biggest argument against her being that she is 76.

The bigger question is whether Newsom will appoint someone as a well vetted place holder until the 2024 election or whether he will nominate someone who would likely crunch in 2024. What they need now is someone who will be a strong vote for the Dem party.

 

[Gospel]

Relying solely on statistics can strip away the humanity of individuals, reducing them to faceless numbers. For example, when we fixate on crime statistics that show higher rates of certain crimes among Black individuals, it perpetuates harmful stereotypes. This can lead to unwarranted reactions, like instances where people—often referred to pejoratively as "Karens"—unnecessarily call the police on Black individuals engaging in everyday activities. On the other hand, although statistics might indicate a higher per capita rate of DUIs among white individuals, we don't see a widespread reaction of suspicion towards white drivers unless there's evidence of wrongdoing. It begs the question: Why can't we adjust our perspective to recognize individual merit and potential, instead of making sweeping generalizations based on statistics? We clearly do it everyday, just not for certain demographics for some odd reason.