Flying west to check up on the California fires, somebody got a very special ride on a very special plane after casting her very special vote for a very special federal judge:

Bush invited Sen. Dianne Feinstein to join him on Air Force One during his trip. It may not have been coincidence that less than 24 hours earlier, Feinstein played a pivotal role in allowing Judge Leslie Southwick, a target of liberal groups, to be confirmed to an appeals court when she voted to block a filibuster and support the president’s nomination.

With a 7:40 a.m. Thursday departure from Andrews Air Force Base, Feinstein found herself seated in the rear of the plane with a handful of Southern California congressional representatives. After a breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage and French toast, Bush popped back for what the senator described as a frank two-hour conversation, mostly about foreign policy.

Oh, really, Dianne? Did you share with the President this tidbit from your re-election stump speech more than a year ago?

“I would say to the president he should remove all U.S.forces from Iraq by (the end of) 2007,” she said, adding that the escalating sectarian violence that last month resulted in the death of more than 3,000 Iraqi civilians is quickly turning into a civil war.

On the plane:

“I found the discussion extraordinarily positive,” Feinstein said. “I came away with a very different view about him.”

Running for re-election last year:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein accused President Bush of abusing his authority Tuesday by claiming the right to override hundreds of laws and by sweeping aside congressional attempts to regulate wiretapping.

“The president is usurping power from both the legislative and the judicial branches and destroying this balance that has served our country so well,” the Democratic lawmaker said at a dinner meeting of the Queen’s Bench bar association in San Francisco.

“I believe we are on our way to a most serious constitutional confrontation.”

Once they deplaned in California, there were many photo opportunities to be shared, of course.

As for the president’s performance on the ground?

“It was a wonderful thing to see, to be candid,” Feinstein said. “I saw a warm, caring human being.”

So can we expect Dianne Feinstein to provide even more cover to the Bush Administration now that she’s discovered this warm, caring human being inside our President? Just what might this very different view provide in the the way of enabling the President’s power grab? Here’s the current state of play, courtesy of Glenn Greenwald:

Just look at what she has done this year on the most critical and revealing votes:
* Voted in FAVOR of funding the Iraq War without conditions;
* Voted in FAVOR of the Bush White House’s FISA bill to drastically expand warrantless eavesdropping powers;
* Voted in FAVOR of condemning MoveOn.org;
* Cast the deciding vote in August on the Senate Judiciary Committee in FAVOR of the nomination of far right Bush nominee Leslie Southwick to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Now that Southwick’s been confirmed by the full Senate, with Dianne Feinstein’s AYE vote providing cover to a lawless Administration, and she’s earned her snuggle time with the President on Air Force One, can we expect even more law-breaking from this President?

And can we expect Dianne Feinstein to let it go unremarked?

Oh, there’s a way to redeem this silly schoolgirl-crush behavior, of course. Vote NO on telecom immunity in the Judiciary Committee, Senator Feinstein. That way, you can prove that your plane ride with President Snake was all about Southwick and not about FISA.

Do the right thing, Dianne. For a change.

(youtube Stupid Girls–Senate Version from One Pissed-Off Dem)

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