Guess how many House Committee Chairs will be white men this year

spacedoggy

Who are all the non white people and women voting for?

danimagoo

Democrats. The majority party gets all the Committee Chairs, and that’s the Republicans.
http://twitter.com/GideonTJones Gideon Jones

Democrats. Thanks to gerrymandering after the 2010 census and teaparty takeover of the redistricting process that year though, winning a majority of votes last month didn’t earn the Democrats a majority of the house seats.
- spacedoggy
  
  God damn 2 party system, I voted for Kodos!

Russ McClay

Probably about the same percentage of white men who founded the United States.

http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist

Probably the same percentage of white men in an Iowan truck stop bathroom.
http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist

Probably the same percentage of white men in a sculling tournament.
http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist

Probably the same percentage of white men duck hunting near Kennebunkport this year.
http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist

Probably the same percentage of white men checking Stormfront this morning.
http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist

Probably the same percentage of white men that have walked on the Moon.
- dasanjos
  
  I love you but the joke got repetitive… :)
  - millie fink
    
    Just like the song! But in a good way.
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5smPcN8AoE
- kiptw
  
  I think a rather low percentage of white men have walked on the Moon.
  - http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist
    
    But it’s an infinitely higher percentage than all other groups combined.
    - kiptw
      
      If the cascade had started off phrased differently, the answer to each of the succeeding questions (presumably with similar phrasing) would have been “100%,” which seems more effective and requires less “well, but you see…” explaining after. Not your fault, of course.
    - http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist
      
      Everyone who has walked on the moon has been a white male. Not all white males have walked on the moon. As a white male I was not aware this required explanation.
    - kiptw
      
      No reply button on the reply, so I reply to myself.
      
      If phrased as “the percentage of white men who have walked on the Moon,” the answer is a very low percentage and requires a cumbersome footnote.
      
      If phrased as “the percentage of those who have walked on the Moon who are white men,” the answer is 100%. No footnote.
      
      Obviously, you pick the one that’s most impressive to you.
    - http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist
      
      Fair enough, I left it as an exercise to the reader to explain the joke to themself and you get an A+.
      
      But if anything requires explaining it’s what the inital commenter intended with his remark as I can interpret his words in multiple ways.
    - kiptw
      
      A+ is the best offer I’ve had all day. Sold!
Lotney

Yes but in 2012 it looks weird doesn’t it?

addalled

Blame the Democrats. They replaced a black Republican in Florida with an old white guy. They also defeated a Republican woman of color in Utah with an old white guy.

http://twitter.com/GideonTJones Gideon Jones

Chairmanships are generally assigned by seniority. Neither of those people had, or would have had a shot. And the GOP house has essentially no long-serving women or minorities with any sort of clout.
unclemike

Blame the Democrats for what the Republicans do in the House? Seriously?
- Boundegar
  
  Didn’t you get the memo? Democrats are to blame for every bad thing. Bush bailed out Wall Street in Obama’s 2008 Liberal Power Grab, for example.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  It’s called a “strategy”. Can you say “strategy”?
  
  Edit – this wasn’t meant to be insulting to unclemike but to the millions of fucking idiots who fall for it.
  - unclemike
    
    Thanks for the clarification. I was about to “Harrumph” myself to the fainting couch. ;-)
millie fink

Blame the Democrats. They replaced a black Republican in Florida with an old white guy. They also defeated a Republican woman of color in Utah with an old white guy.

They were both hard-right crazies. So blame the Tea Party, and its ilk.
Navin_Johnson

“a black lunatic in Florida”

Fixed.

chgoliz

Now don’t blame the Republicans. They’re still in the post-election debriefing mode, trying to determine what went wrong with their message. If only they could figure out how to convince people that they’ve learned what needs to be changed in how they conduct politics. The lessons are there, if only they could decode them.

Sagodjur

I think we can be more specific and note that it is old, wealthy white men.

millie fink

Why? Cuz that would let you off the hook?
- Sagodjur
  
  I didn’t know I was on the hook. Please elaborate.
  - millie fink
    
    With great power comes great responsibility, etc.
    - Sagodjur
      
      I agree, but I’m not Spider-Man. Please elaborate on what actual power I have and how exactly you know that I personally have such power and the opportunity to use it.
    - millie fink
      
      If you’re a white man (or a non-white man, or a white woman) and you can’t see how relatively empowered certain social categories automatically make you, there’s nothing I can do towards your edification in the space of a comment thread.
    - Sagodjur
      
      People are individuals. You can’t logically attribute characteristics to them based on perceived membership in arbitrarily defined groups.
      
      Money is power. I have (relatively) no money. Political influence is power. I have no actual political influence. Organization is power. I’m introverted, generally asocial, and don’t have time for activism. Violence can be power. I’m a pacifist.
      
      Social change requires asserting leverage to force those in power to comply with the wishes of those pushing for change. I have no leverage.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      To be clear, you choose to have no leverage by eschewing every manifestation of it.
    - Benjamin Terry
      
      If anything, the internet has taught me that it is always your fault, based on your gender and skin color and the implications thereof What gender or skin color that is varies depending on the site, however.
  - Ashley Yakeley
    
    It’s perfectly simple. Most powerful people are white men, therefore most white men are powerful people.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      When you put it like that it…… well, it doesn’t actually make sense, but it has a sort of lopsided false symmetry.

CLamb

How wasteful. Inanimate chairs would be much cheaper and likely make for more comfortable seating also. Even a fine well-padded oaken chair would require much less maintenance than a white male.

Brainspore

Quick, someone alert Bill O’Reilly that “traditional America” is still alive and well!

Petzl

And Rush Limbaugh wonders why we beat up white people on buses so much.

kiptw

Clearly, someone wants a Congress that looks like 1954.