I have no doubt Sen. Feinstein is going to be savaged for this by the far left and that’s honestly fine with me. A group of kids organized by the Sunrise Movement, the left-wing group campaigning for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, went to Feinstein’s office today to pressure her to support it. The organizers clearly figured Feinstein would have a hard time telling these cute and earnest kids no. They were wrong.

“Some scientists have said that we have 12 years to turn this around,” one of the kids, who looks about 12, said. The Green New Deal resolution actually calls for net-zero carbon emission in 10 years.

“Well, it’s not going to get turned around in 10 years,” Feinstein replied. “She continued, “What we can do is put ourselves…”

Before Feinstein could finish, she was cut off by one of the older activists. “Senator, if this doesn’t get turned around in 10 years you’re looking at the faces of the people who are going to be living with the consequences,” the young woman said. As another one of the young kids said the government was “for the people and by the people,” Feinstein cut her off.

“You know what’s interesting about this group is I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” she said. She continued with what sounded like a rebuke, “I know what I’m doing. You come in here and you say it has to be my way or the highway. I don’t respond to that. I’ve gotten elected. I just ran. I was elected by almost a million vote plurality and I know what I’m doing. So you know, maybe people should listen a little bit.”

Again, Feinstein was cut off by several more voices. A little girl shouts, “we’re the ones who are going to be impacted.”

“I understand that. I have 7 grandchildren,” Feinstein replied. But before she could continue speaking to the girl, one of the older women in the room started reciting another talking point. When the woman continued to talk over Feinstein, the Senator finally gave up and said, “Well, you know better than I do. So I think one day you should run for the Senate. And then you do it your way.”

“I will,” the woman replied.

Again, I think Feinstein is going to catch hell over this. For the far left, you either go along with their childish demands or you’re a villain and they tear you apart. But the real problem here is that partisan activists are using kids as political props.

In any case, the kids got a pretty solid lesson in civics. Not everyone thinks the Green New Deal is a serious proposal, nor should they. It’s green utopianism without a price tag. There’s nothing wrong with an adult saying in so many words: ‘Hey, kids, this is a bit more complicated than you think it is at age 12.’ It may turn out to be bad politics for the Senator but it won’t be because she’s wrong about the Green New Deal.

https://twitter.com/sunrisemvmt/status/1099075460649107458

Update: Via Tommy Christopher, here’s the full video that shows just how much that clip above was edited to make DiFi look bad. She’s actually responding to the kids pretty clearly that, for instance, there’s no way to pay for the Green New Deal. I guess the organizers haven’t taught the kids the Modern Monetary Theory talking points yet. Feinstein also explains that her proposal has a chance of passing, which makes it more valuable than a feel-good measure.

She’s actually being pretty polite about it.

One of the kids (the 16-year-old) asks if she can get an internship in the office and Feinstein seems to be helping her. Wow, this is different from the edited version! In the final clip, the leader of this group calls Feinstein condescending. I mean, okay, but she wasn’t talking to adults here. Some of these kids were in Middle School.