After a senatorial reign spanning a quarter of a century, complete with corruption, lies, and partisan hackery, Dianne Feinstein finally outdid herself in her quest to hit rock-bottom with her handling of Christine Blasey Ford's sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Feinstein is long overdue for punishment. California conservatives and progressives alike can issue one in November by voting for Kevin de Leon for Senate.

Sure, de Leon is as far left as any other California Democrat. But California refuses to elect anyone an inch to the right of Elizabeth Warren anyways. Why not choose a typical tax-and-spend leftist who didn't just orchestrate the most brazen political hit job in modern American politics?

Let's ignore for a second that after two decades of dallying with the dictatorial Chinese — "I sometimes say that in my last life maybe I was Chinese," she once said — it was revealed that Feinstein staffed a Chinese spy in her office for that entire time. We can also overlook the series of shady deals Feinstein has made during her tenure to inadvertently funnel millions of dollars to herself and her husband. (Feinstein's current net worth is $94 million.) Instead, just consider her behavior during the Kavanaugh confirmation process.

To recap, Feinstein acquired the letter detailing Ford's allegations in July. Between then and the week for the initially planned vote for Kavanaugh's confirmation — two months — Feinstein had the opportunity to question Kavanaugh, either in public or private, under oath. Because Ford never wanted to come forward publicly, she could have had the matter investigated confidentially and forwarded the allegations to the FBI. Trump could have pulled Kavanaugh's nomination if Feinstein's inquiry had come up with anything concrete. He would have been more willing to do so because he would have had time to replace him, and the whole matter would have been settled behind closed doors. Or else, far more likely, the investigation would have come up empty and the result would have been the same as now, without Ford's name ever being leaked to the press by Feinstein, her staff, or any other Democratic staffer.

Instead, Feinstein turned a personnel issue into a political one.

The worst way to handle something as sensitive as a sexual assault allegation, especially if you believe it to be true, is to sit on it for two months, leak it to the press at the most politically expedient moment, and then play dumb (or senile) when pressed about why you didn't do anything about it earlier.

Those who don't believe Ford should be livid at Feinstein's behavior. Those who do believe Ford should be even more so.

Feinstein is headed toward her fifth reelection bid, thanks to name recognition and incumbency alone. But what she did, not just to Kavanaugh or to Ford, but dragging the American public through that entire divisive and bitter ordeal when she had every tool in her arsenal to avoid it, was deplorable. Even if a weakened winning margin merely reduces her popular mandate or political star, at least it's something. For what she did, she deserves anything and everything.