For what it's worth, I wrote a letter to Feinstein protesting her support of SOPA/PIPA, and the form letter her office sent back to me made it quite clear that neither she nor anyone in her office actually understood the issue or the consequences.

I don't know that I'll be voting for her opponent, and I don't think she has any chance of losing, but the fact that she could be such a strong proponent (she co-sponsored Protect-IP) of a law that she so clearly did not understand has put me off the idea of ever voting for her again.

It is likely that she/her office felt that they did understand the issue. Most people are not tech people and her only inputs were probably executives/lobbyists looking to strengthen copyright. I'm all for lobbying to make sure more congresspeople know what the issues are but writing off candidates because of one issue is really silly.

When a legislator sponsors legislation she doesn't understand, there's a failure somewhere. Regardless of where that failure comes from, I feel comfortable saying that legislator has made a fairly grievous error.

I didn't mean to imply that I'm entirely a single-issue voter, merely that I'm upset enough by that error to avoid that politician. Perhaps I'd consider differently if I thought the outcome of this election were in doubt or that my single vote was significant enough to matter. As it is, I tend to regard voting as an exercise in personal satisfaction more than an act which carries weight.

All I was trying to point out is that she probably feels that she "understands the issue". A good lobbyist can spin a great tale of woe for how our system is protecting artists or how patents will help with innovation or what not. Lobbying from tech industry folks is still in a nascent, very naive stage. It isn't entirely fair to let it slide, but I think its silly to dismiss someone who likely hasn't had an even education on a complex and somewhat novel topic.

minor edit for clarity

That may be the case, but it's still a mistake on her part if she feels that way. It's her job to understand the issues she votes on, let alone the bills she sponsors. "I didn't seek out any source of information beyond the lobbyists dumping money into my re-election campaign" is hardly a good excuse.

I could not agree with this more. Whether they support such obviously awful legislation due to malice or ignorance is irrelevant, they are still not doing their jobs correctly.