The 89-year-old Dianne Feinstein said something that revealed just how much her mental capacity has deteriorated in recent months.

A reporter with the LA Times wrote about his interaction with Feinstein today:

Feinstein returned last week after months away from the Senate as she recovered from the shingles virus . Her absence from Washington didn’t derail the confirmation of President Biden’s judicial nominations or the work of federal government, but it did cause angst among Democrats who worried that the slim margins of their majority could make their work difficult or impossible.

In the short interview after voting, she mentioned a problem with her leg but on the balance of things said she was feeling better. Then another reporter asked about the well wishes she’d received from her Senate colleagues since her return last week.

“About your return,” the reporter replied.

“I haven’t been gone,” she said. “You should … I haven’t been gone. I’ve been working.”

“You’ve been working from home is what you’re saying?”

“No, I’ve been here. I’ve been voting. Please, either know or don’t know.”

She then breezed by in her wheelchair and didn’t respond to other questions.

She doesn’t even remember that she was gone for months with shingles. That’s really bad.

A reporter with Slate also caught the interaction:

When the fellow reporter asked her what the response from her colleagues had been like since her return, though, the conversation took an odd turn.

“No, I haven’t been gone,” she said.

OK.

“You should follow the—I haven’t been gone. I’ve been working.”

When asked whether she meant that she’d been working from home, she turned feisty.

“No, I’ve been here. I’ve been voting,” she said. “Please. You either know or don’t know.”

It is true that Feinstein has been in Washington and voting for the past week… But it is not true that she had been “here,” in a physical sense, for the two-and-a-half-month stretch between February and last week.

Yashar Ali responded to this news with outrage: Enough…this is outrageous… For her own sake, Feinstein needs to retire immediately. Members of the Senate to start publicly calling for her to retire.

I’m sure many Democrats will feel this way. Republicans, however, probably won’t say much about it because it’s not really their problem.