Political Insiders Club: No Girls Allowed!

Published September 18, 2009 @ 10:22PM PT

The National Journal makes it abundantly clear that women still have a lot of glass to smash when it comes to the political insiders club. Take a look at the top ten names that were chosen by panel of Congressional and Political Insiders:

Total
points Democratic
points Republican
points

Thomas Friedman 335 230 105

David Brooks 282 141 141

Charles Krauthammer 281 1 280

George Will 246 23 223

Paul Krugman 182 181 1

David Broder 165 106 59

E.J. Dionne 147 143 4

Karl Rove 126 1 125

Peggy Noonan 101 5 96

William Kristol 91 5 86

Save for Peggy Noonan, this list basically outlines the exact concept of the "old boys club" that we feminists like to refer to so often. Not that these names aren't influential - but when a list like this is created by a panel of Congressional and Political Insiders who are ranking columnists, bloggers, and television or radio commentators based on the fact that they "most help to shape their own opinion or worldview" - it becomes rather alarming that in 2009 more women aren't yet in that role (or perceived to be) shaping policy and society, in a more profound way.

The bloggerati had a different view of this list, but it still lacks more than one set of x chromosomes.

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Comments (3)

Yep...Your right...It is sad.

We need more women to be represented in a more equal manner.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 09/19/2009 @ 07:26PM PT
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Maybe because we lost Molly Ivins. She never lost her good humor, her good sense, or her ability to laugh. Personally, I like the blond Brit from FireDogLake (Laura Flanders, GRITtv).

But - there are few women on the beltway, very, very few. Only a few even make the talking heads on weekend news shows, and there are two I recall - Eleanor someboy, whose voice is always stressed - not effective - and another woman who talks less but gets the floor more easily, on the same show. The show's on PBS, and the guys who leads the discussion looks and acts like a bulldog. But those aren't really beltway folk. Bloggers wouldn't be looking at the same folks, but the insiders liste a lot of columnists I read - mostly from NY Times, I think, some from WA Post. Most of us do not realize that DC is its own world, in a bit of a timewarp. If you really want to understand it, read Gore Vidal. It won't give you the latest insider news, but the real sense of the oh-so-veryinsider and conservative forces at work. And I do not regard conservative as a necessarily negative word at all, although it has certainly been applied to some very odd actions recently. Most Americans really do not know a libretarian from a neocon, don't know that a libretarianan isn't necessarily a Republican, and so on.

Posted by Carol Crooks on 09/23/2009 @ 06:17PM PT
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It's because we allow men to stay in the positions of power. Women need to regain their god-given power by being assertive. Men will back down because they know that's how it's suppose to be. Obviously, women are to be the decision makers.

Posted by Marlene Nelson on 10/06/2009 @ 04:02PM PT
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Jen Nedeau is a social media consultant, progressive activist, feminist speaker and writer. She currently lives in New York City, where she works full-time as the Director of Digital Strategy at Air America Media. In August 2008, Nedeau was selected to be the Editor of the WomensRights.Change.Org where she facilitates daily discussion about the feminist movement. Additionally, Nedeau volunteers as the Chief Technology Officer for New Leaders Council, a non-profit that offers exclusive training for young leaders. You can follow her on Twitter @HumanFolly or learn more here: www.jennedeau.com.

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