As Sen. Lindsey Graham unexpectedly elevated himself to statesman during the last of the Senate hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh Thursday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein dropped herself to bottom of the barrel as a political hack.  Her performance, from start to finish, was a disgrace.  It was so bad, so loathsome, even to the left, that it's hard to think it won't cost her her Senate seat, where she is in a tight race this November.

Here was the exchange on the Senate floor just yesterday, and Fox News has a video here:

"Only at an 11th hour, on the eve of Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation vote, did the ranking member refer the allegations to the FBI.  And then the allegations were leaked to the press.  That's where Dr. Ford was mistreated.  This is a shameful way to treat our witness, who insisted on confidentiality, and Judge Kavanaugh, who has had to address these allegations in the midst of a media circus."

Feinstein responded to Grassley's criticism when she began her opening remarks, saying, "Yes, I did receive a letter from Dr. Ford ... the next day, I called Dr. Ford, we spoke on the phone, she reiterated that she wanted this held confidential.  And I held it confidential, up to a point where the witness was willing to come forward."

Here's a rundown of how bad she was:

1. Feinstein got a letter from a constituent alleging sexual harassment by Judge Brett Kavanaugh during his high school years.  She sat on it for 60 days, only to bring it up after hearings were concluded, obviously for some political bang, following the news that Kavanaugh would likely be confirmed without incident.

2. Asked about it at the time, Feinstein said she had questions about whether it was 'truthful.'  That was her argument and stayed her argument, until Ford became politically useful.

3. Then Feinstein, or someone on her staff obviously leaked the letter to the press, following Feinstein's promises of confidentiality to the writer, effectively outing her, and forcing her to come forward as a named witness whether she liked it or not.  That backed the witness, Christine Blasey Ford into a corner, forcing her to come forward with her allegations in testimony under oath, which, given the perjury trap it was for her, were quite vague.  Ford herself said she believed she was betrayed and outed by someone on Feinstein's staff.

4. That was obvious enough when Feinstein was instrumental in getting Ford a leftwing lawyer to do the media grandstanding.

5. After that, Feinstein was confronted about her political opportunism by Sen. Ted Cruz, and tried to brush the whole thing off, begging his question about how the letter was leaked by saying reporters were the problem, not leakage.  Pressed by another senator, she said she asked their staff and they said no – as if Feinstein, who employed an utterly untrustworthy Chinese spy on that same staff for 20 years – should just take their word for it.  Sneaky leakers would never lie, now, would they?

It's bad stuff, political manipulation of the worst sort, and both sides have been right to call her out on it.  Her denials are pathetic, failing to address any of the issues at hand, whether of legislative duties, leaks, or admitting blame.  She's obviously put political gain ahead of doing her job, and she stands now as an unfit member of the Senate.

Couple it with her employment of that Chinese spy for 20 years and her defense of the Steele dossier, and an ugly Jurassic partisan hack picture emerges.

Even people on the left can see it.  I've always been content voting for Feinstein, or at least held my nose and voted for her, given the crazed lefty alternatives we have seen on the California ballots.  But this may be the end of it.  Feinstein is being challenged by a crazed far leftist of the worst Sacramento-swamp stripe, leaving virtually no good alternatives for voters at midterms.  Although many Republicans are flocking to that crazy rival of hers on the ballot, Kevin de León, it looks like write-in time for many normals.  This woman has got to go.