Analysis: A Woman For Every John in the Republican Party

With a battle likely to come over a female Supreme Court nominee, I wondered how best to demonstrate how inhospitable the Republican Party is toward women. I was trying to find something new and memorable, and in thinking about it, I stumbled upon something that has been out in the open for anyone to see, but that no one has yet noticed.

I thought about the four Republican women in the Senate. Just four. And I thought about how many Republicans want to cut that number in half, ousting Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe for contaminating party purity. Kay Bailey Hutchinson is also rumored to be leaving to challenge Rick Perry for the Texas governorship. And then it struck me.

It may not come as a surprise to you that there are more Johns than women among Senate Republicans, but did you realize that there are also more people actually named John than women in the Senate GOP? There are seven Johns and four women. There are even as many Jims as women: Bunning, DeMint, Inhofe and Rische. And in the entire US Congress, of 535 seats and 218 Republicans, there are exactly 21 Republican women and 21 Republican Johns. Or as the headline puts it, a woman for every John in the Republican Party:

Sources: Republicans in the House, Republicans in the Senate, Women in the House, Women in the Senate

So while the fresh talking points may be obvious should Republicans attack a nominated judge Sotomayor as a hot-blooded Latina, enjoy this funny, useful, memorable new talking point should Obama appoint any other woman for the job.

In other news, African-American Republicans are outnumbered by men named Roscoe. And Saxby. And Rodney P. Frelinghuysen.