In an MSNBC interview, Sen. Dianne Feinstein summarily dismissed former CIA Director Michael Hayden's
sexist remarks that she is just "too emotional" to deal objectively with investigating the CIA torture program. Feinstein blasted Hayden's reliance on a "stereotype" to deflect from his ongoing attempts to cover up the torture that he allowed,
calling it an "old male fallback position."
"I think that's an old male fallback position and there's no question that there are a lot of people out there—I suspect one of them is former CIA Director Hayden—that does not want the report to come out," Feinstein said Tuesday on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports."
"So one of the things you do is try to blur the reputation of someone connected with the report," Feinstein said.
"It's nonsense, it's kind of stereotypical," Feinstein said of Hayden's remarks.
She's absolutely right—it's the old "discredit the messenger" trope. In attacking her, in attempting to dismiss her as incapable of objectively conducting oversight, Hayden was trying to change the conversation from the torture that happened on his watch to whether this was something the Senate—and in particular, a woman—should be sticking its nose into.