I Want to Talk About Dianne Feinstein

And Nancy Pelosi.

And Hillary Clinton.

And every other woman who’s ever been told by men to sit down and shut up (so all of us, really).

Notice how it’s always older women who are told to fuck off?

“You’re too old and voted for the Iraq War. You need to retire.”

(In favor of a man, of course.)

(And AGAIN with the goddamn Iraq War? In the words of Elsa: “Let it GOOOOOOOO!!!!!”)

“The Republicans don’t like you. You need to step down.”

(In favor of a man, of course. Who’s not particularly down with supporting women’s reproductive rights. But who cares, right? Bitches who have sex deserve what they get.)

(And we’re basing our decisions on what Republicans like because why now?)

“You lost the election. Go into hiding for the rest of your life. Oh, and maybe learn to knit while you’re there.”

(You know who couldn’t win the goddamn primary, but is still trying to take over a party he refuses to join? And has written TWO shitty books? And is 76? And will probably run again in 2020, Goddess help us all? But I digress.)

Joe Biden voted for the Iraq War. And lost the presidential primary in 1988. And is 75 years old. And was Obama’s VP. And is probably also going to run in 2020.

John Kerry voted for the Iraq War. And lost the presidential election in 2004. And is 74 years old. And went on to be Secretary of State in Obama’s second term.

Chuck Schumer voted for the Iraq War. He’s 67. And is the current Senate Minority Leader.

Harry Reid voted for the Iraq War. He’s the former Senate Minority Leader. And he was 75 when he left Congress.

John Edwards, Tom Daschle, and Chris Dodd all voted for the Iraq War. They’re all out of Congress now, but Chris Dodd was until recently the chief lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association. He’s 73 by the way. Tom Daschle, who is 70, is also a powerful lobbyist. Things didn’t go quite so smoothly for John Edwards (who, at 64, is a spring chicken comparatively), but it was his own damn fault for committing campaign finance fraud covering up an affair and a secret child. He is, by the way, still a practicing lawyer.

As far as I know, none of them know how to knit.

Look, maybe we need to talk about a mandatory retirement age from Congress. Hell, I’m a GenXer. We got so tired of being told “it’s not your time yet” with Boomers refusing to make way that we all went out and started our own things, and now y’all are moaning and crying that there’s no one to step into senior leadership positions in your organization, and we’re all, “Nah – got my own gig. Like it. Pass.” But again, I digress.

I feel like a broken record, but why is it always ALWAYS ALWAYS women – particularly older women – who somehow need to clear the way for MEN? (because it always seems to be men)

I’ll close this rant with an image I found during the 2016 campaign that still resonates with me:

Is telling women – ONLY women, ALWAYS women – to sit down and shut up when they do something you don’t like or dare to try something unprecedented and fail ALWAYS 100% of the time not about the women, but about misogyny? Well, I’ll allow that it’s possible that there’s A CASE (maybe one) where it’s not. But I would surely appreciate it if men on the left who are supposed to be our allies would take a minute BEFORE yelling “make me a sammich, bitch” to consider that it might be.

Image found in the public domain. It’s Dianne leading a march in remembrance of slain San Francisco supervisor (and gay icon) Harvey Milk (and slain mayor George Moscone) in 1979. 1979. Tell me again how she’s too conservative?

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