Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) announced earlier this month that she would retire, bringing to an end a career that saw her play starring roles repeatedly in a half century of American political history. As the competitive primary to replace her rapidly gets underway, here’s a look back at her career, including some of the important moments that defined it.
She is really something. She was in the middle of history. Over and over again. It’s time to retire.
As a long time San Franciscan DF has been a presence in my life, beginning with the City Hall murders, then her time as mayor and her career in the senate. I’m glad she’s going to retire, but also saddened. It’s the end of an era.
OMG! I hope we’re not going to have a DiFi Goodbye Tour. Her claim to fame is being present at the
City Hall murders 45 years ago.
She should have retired at least ten years ago. Good riddance to DiFi and her grifter billionaire husband, both members of the Democratic Party Pig Rich Club.
If so, I give you permission to be excused 
Moderator swoops in! Impressive.
So we have a DiFi and Lindsey picture
But it’s not this one?
Me, too, and 
I’ve lived in SF since 1976, really became aware of her in 1978 and never stopped following her work.
Oakland native, worked in the City starting in '70, moved there in '78, just a few months before the assassinations.
So you came to the City (I do like capitalizing the C) just in time to follow the Jonestown story which I believe unfolded in November of '78. Jim Jones directed his flock, before taking them to Guyana and directing them to commit suicide, to vote for certain pols. Those pols, including the DA at that time, Joe Freitas, turned a blind eye to what Jones was doing to poor SF people of color because they got guaranteed votes.
@jonney_5 I understand people think pols of different parties shouldn’t even acknowledge that the other pols exist, but someone’s going to have to explain to me the problem in hugging an otherwise repellent repub. It fell under the category of camaraderie, not a bad idea at any time.
For a while, I worked in the RIchmond and drove by their Temple in the Western Addition every work day. It seemed creepy even before Jonestown.
It was a weird time in the City, the 70s. There were the Zebra murders and that group’s attempt on Art Agnos’s life; the Zodiac killer was still taunting police; the Doodler murdering gay white men.
On the other hand, it was fun times. Saturday night “car shows” on Mission Street; Santana sometimes had a jam session in Precita Park; a new mural went up somewhere almost every week; 24th Street was still “Little Mexico”…
And housing was affordable.
P.S. -I think Jones was honored by the city for the work he was doing! I think he fooled a lot of people. The People’s Temple was attended by whites as well as Blacks - a congregation of idealists: a cult.
It was Rep. Leo Ryan who led an investigative delegation to Jonestown, including Jackie Speier. He was murdered there, and Jackie was elected to his seat. This just before the mass murder/suicide.
Sure, but to wax poetic about a great hearing when the other party just mugged us of a SC seat is a bridge too far.
Camaraderie didn’t mean anything to Republicans when they cravenly rammed Barrett down our throat.
Democrats have always been the kinder gentler party, and the repubs, well they have Turtle who delayed a confirmation hearing for Garland for seven months in order for the new president who turned out be trumpet to pick his own parrot and it was Aunt Lydia.
This was DF’s personal kinder, gentler response even if the hugee didn’t deserve it.
I remember most of these events as if they happened yesterday, and in particular I remember the huge crowd that came together at the intersection of Castro and Market to walk silently with candles to City Hall. Silence all the way with Dykes on Bikes being the parade monitors. Jennifer Moscone was at the head of the parade and my husband and I and a friend were somewhere in the middle. I think.
Democrats didn’t deserve to watch our team thank our mugger.
That’s like another democrat hugging Paul Pelosi’s attacker.
Me, too.
There’s no point in hanging on to a grievance and no point in debating it any further. And comparing a hug to an attack on Pelosi is way out of line.
That would be. However, for clarity that wasn’t the comparison.
I compared the rush appointment & stealing of the SC seat to the attack on Pelosi. I called it a mugging.
I suggested that hugging an attacker after the attack is bad that is all.
Sure a physical attack on a person and an attack on our system are different things. One is way worse than the other.
