We've thought for a long time that Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein is a conservative in sheep's clothing. For example, she is the prime mover of the ill-advised Victim's Rights Amendment making its way through Congress. Yesterday, she showed her true conservatism again by calling for the death penalty in a case involving the murder of a police officer in San Francisco--after the DA decided not to charge the case as a death case. She used the dead officer's funeral service as her vechicle to make her charge--causing further division and dissension in the community. Feinstein went even further, and said that had she known the DA opposed the death penalty, she probably wouldn't have endorsed her for the position.

DA Kamala Harris has promised to put the cop's killer in prison for life. San Francisco and Alameda County do not have great success with death cases:

The D.A. in Alameda County has sought the death penalty in no fewer than four police killings over the past two decades. The prosecution's batting average: zero. District Attorney Tom Orloff, who personally prosecuted one of the cop killers back in 1986, says there appears to be a common thread -- namely, jurors' reluctance to deal out the death penalty without clear proof that the defendant woke up that day with the idea of killing a cop...."Our juries are just like San Francisco's,'' he said. "(Imposing the death penalty) is not something they jump at the opportunity to do.''

From time to time people mention Sen. Feinstein as a vice-presidential candidate. Not in our book. Not by a long shot.