A confused Dianne Feinstein tried to give a speech in the middle of a Senate hearing vote and was told to 'just say aye' instead
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"Just say aye," Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray repeatedly pleaded to Feinstein during the vote. Eventually, Feinstein did just that.

“Just say aye,” Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray repeatedly pleaded to Feinstein during the vote. Eventually, Feinstein did just that.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday appeared confused and attempted to deliver a longer speech during a Senate hearing, the latest in a string of episodes that have raised further questions about her ability to continue serving in office.

“Just say aye,” Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray repeatedly pleaded with her colleague.

Instead of a short reply, Feinstein began her response by saying, “I would like to support a yes vote on this, it provides $823 billion …” As the California Democrat continued to speak, an aide also intervened to try to remind the lawmaker that this was not the time for speeches.

“OK,” Feinstein then said as Murray reminded her one final time to “just say aye.” “Aye,” she finally said.

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  • DrYes@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    Not the OP. I can easily imagine a test that, if someone cannot pass it, I can clearly say they shouldn’t be representatives. While still weeding out cases like Feinstein.

    Might there be problems with people who have the knowledge but have problems with the process of being tested? Maybe. But maybe those people also shouldn’t be representatives. I don’t know enough about the causes of test fright to be confident on that.

    • joe@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 year ago

      I can easily imagine a test that, if someone cannot pass it, I can clearly say they shouldn’t be representatives. While still weeding out cases like Feinstein.

      Why are you sure about this? Do you think her issue is a lack of education/knowledge?

      But maybe those people also shouldn’t be representatives.

      I’m sure you mean well, but this is a very dangerous sentence. What if the body or person that ends up with final say on the test has some thoughts on what a representative should or should not know, and those thoughts don’t match yours? Like, in an extreme hypothetical, imagine if someone like Tucker Carlson had some input on what questions to ask and what answers to accept. What kind of person would that test filter out?

      In a perfect world, a knowledge test requirement to be a representative isn’t a terrible idea, but in a perfect world, it also wouldn’t be needed, and most importantly, we are definitely not in a perfect world.