So about the only thing everyone can agree on coming out of the 2012 elections is that the GOP got thumped by any and all groups that were not old white men. Now to be fair they cant agree what to do about it. One school of thought it change the message to appeal to minorities. Another school of though is change the messenger, that is get someone more female and/or brown to say exactly what the old white guys have been saying. And then their is the school of thought that seems to have taken hold in the house of Representatives, put your head in the sand and do nothing.
At least I assume thats the explanation for this:
Thats a picture of the NEW committee chairmen for the upcoming congress. And yes that is basically a group of middle aged and old white dicks :P. Seriously though, I mean I get not having any minorities since you cant appoint what you dont have (yea by the way, might I suggest the fact that in the house at least you have no minorities is the first sign you've got a problem?). But still about 10% of your caucus is female....now I admit thats only 20 people, but damn guys (emphasis on guys). Look I'm sure if you asked nicely Mitt Romney would have let you borrow some of his binders full of women and you could have found a qualified candidate out of there. And lets be honest, given that the outgoing congress has 24 female GOP congresswomen, you clearly need the binders, cause you kinda went in the wrong direction on that whole "diversity" thing.
I mean remember on the other side of the aisle, this is the first congress in history where the democratic congress is majority minority, and as a result is expected to have at least 9 (of 19) if not more minorities in the "ranking member" position (the closest equivalent for chairman for the minority) I mean again outreach fail GOP.
And guys heres the thing, you all have the perfect excuse to add a woman or two. Unlike the democrats your party decided to impose term limits on your committee chairmanships (and ranking membership's when your in the minority) specifically to ensure new "blood" always had a chance to run the committees, have their voices heard and gain power and influence and what have you. So you had a built in excuse to maybe not select the most senior members for some committee's and actually appoint a woman or two.
And you know what I understand that some of the women you lost in the last election were some of your more senior, and that the majority of the women left (12) are in their first of second terms. And even then of the 8 left, two of them, Michelle Bachmann and Virginia Foxx are bat-shit crazy. But come on that still leaves you 6 qualified women.
In fact one of them is Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who is already the highest ranking republican woman from either house in congress right now, and was a possible VP pick (according to rumor) in the last election. Your telling me you werent smart enough to put her as chair for a committee? I mean I get the one major committee she was on didnt have an opening, but lets be honest you can put anyone anywhere you like whenever you like (given that shes been on and off other committees in the past, although never as chair)
I mean look fairly or not part of politics is "show" and "presentation" which means you gotta know enough to put at least one women out there somewhere, and given that you've got 3 (at least) who are also legitimately qualified, I mean guys OUTREACH.
I mean lets not forget this picture either:
Remember that? thats the picture from last year that sparked the "War on Women". That's a picture of a House hearing on Contraception (run by the Republicans), and this picture was pretty rounded blasted given that every single person at the table to testify at the hearing were men. Now yes I admit this got somewhat overshadowed by the whole Shandra Fluke slut controversy. She by the way was woman who the republicans refused to let testify at this hearing, and then Rush Limbaugh spend 3 days calling her a slut.
Now there's a lesson in optics here for the republican's I know you all (republicans) remember this picture and you all remember the ass whipping you took from the resulting war on women. Why? because people could point at a picture and go "dudes? WTF? where are the women?" yet you decided that, hey, against the most diverse Democratic House Caucus in history lets do it again...and lose the one black guy.
Oh and heres the thing, the narrative associated with the contraception hearing picture isnt technically true. See the 6 people sitting directly behind the group at the table? yea they were testifying in the afternoon, and that group includes 2 women. So it was only the morning group that had 0 women. Now I admit a 2:9 ratio is still fucking horrible, but it wasnt quite as bad as the GOP took flack for. THAT simple fact alone should have taught them to NEVER EVER get caught with an all male group again (let alone an all male white group).
But I guessed the stuck their heads in the sand and missed the memo....either that or they dont think we can see them......
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