And Now I'm Leaving

Unfortuately, just as a Wifi signal from George Miller's office started to enter the room, the committee declared an hour-long recess to cast some votes. I can't stick around that long, so I'm heading out. One bit of takeaway, though, is that is the Democratic members of the subcommittee are way, way, way more conservative on average than your average House Democrats. There are tons of white southerners in the group, and very few in the caucus as a whole.

This is a bad pattern for the party and the country. With more progressive members sitting on the relevant committees, you'd have an entry point to get better experts on the testimony lists and a place to try and launch them into more prominent positions in the media. For now, take solace in the fact that the O'Hanlon seems to be edging back left in response to the criticisms he's taken for his op-ed.

Comments

Sorry to pint this out, but white southerners = born losers.

- Jefferson Davis
- Lyndon Johnson
- Bull Connor
- George Wallace
- Trent Lott
- George W. Bush*

*actually from Connecticut

Posted by HeavyJ | July 31, 2007 2:26 PM

HeavyJ:
Johnson wasn't a loser. Granted, Vietnam is big mark against his record but he still had plenty of good accomplishments, unlike the Decider.

Sestak isn't good enough to be put on the Armed Services committee?

Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | July 31, 2007 2:28 PM

seriously matt, make the atlantic pop for a blackberry at least. sullivan's probably expensing his south park dvd's, the least you could do is scam a phone with a keyboard out of 'em

Posted by Jack | July 31, 2007 2:35 PM

Matt is already tied to the iPhone flop.

Posted by Rob | July 31, 2007 2:39 PM

The members are there mostly to protect military districts in their bases, right?

Perhaps what's needed is something similar to the CBC's effort to keep lots of African-American members on Judiciary.

Posted by Nicholas Beaudrot | July 31, 2007 2:54 PM

Lyndon Johnson

Did more to advance America towards its conception of itself than any President since.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | July 31, 2007 2:56 PM

Sestak is on the Armed Services Committee, but committee members don't sit on every subcommittee.

Posted by beowulf | July 31, 2007 3:10 PM

There are tons of white southerners in the group, and very few in the caucus as a whole.

Far be it from me to cast aspersions, but that does sound a little racist. Let's try it differently and see:

There are tons of black northerners in the group, and very few in the caucus as a whole

Descriptive or racist? Hard to tell.

Posted by Brett | July 31, 2007 3:11 PM

People who should not get jobs in the next Democratic administration but probably will, especially if Clinton is elected:

Ken Pollack
Michael O'Hanlon
Michèle A. Flournoy

Posted by h | July 31, 2007 3:35 PM

Y'know, I took a look at the membership of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. Of the nine Democrats on the list, only four are from the South (Snyder, Spratt, Cooper and Johnson). Three are from California, and they're all women (Loretta Sanchez, Tauscher, and Susan Davis). And Hank Johnson is best known for being the House's first Buddhist member, as well as being African-American. He also supports Cheney's impeachment.

While I'm not too familiar with the political viewpoints or stances of any of them save the Californians, I think that "tons of white southerners" is a little misleading. Granted, all the Republicans on the subcomittee are either from the old Confederacy or states that bordered it, but that wasn't the point of your post.

"With more progressive members sitting on the relevant committees, you'd have an entry point to get better experts on the testimony lists and a place to try and launch them into more prominent positions in the media." Like I said, I'm not familiar with the politics of the members, and really only know a lot about Tauscher, who is a tried-and-true DLCer. But for one, how many "progressive members" actually have or want to have the kind of knowledge and interest it would take to be one defense-related subcommittess? Many of the subcommittee members come from districts that have a substantial number of military personnel living there, so it makes sense for them to take an additional interest in the armed services.

And as far as "a place to try and launch them into more prominent positions in the media," y'know, none of these current members are particularly well-known outside their respective districts, save perhaps Tauscher.

Posted by Dave | July 31, 2007 4:15 PM

Descriptive or racist? Hard to tell.

OH NO!!! Why didn't Bill O'Reilly warn me about THIS well-known hate site?!? I am full of very very serious outrage that is not at all forced over the fact that Matt described people as white!!!

Posted by Jake H. | July 31, 2007 4:34 PM