13 was not a good number in 1989. It's especially bad in 2019.

Total women in the U.S. House:

1989:
16 Democrats
13 Republicans

2019:
89 Democrats
13 Republicans

There are terrible and embarrassing numbers, of course.

First, and most egregious: Only 23 percent of the House members are women. This Congress may have a record number of female members, but in a country where more than half of the population is female, this is a ridiculous number. A stupid number. An indicator of how much progress is still needed.

Also disturbing:

It’s almost as if there are members of the Republican party who really don’t think a woman’s place is in Congress. In 30 years, the anemic number of Republican women in the House has stayed the same.

But that can’t be. It must be some kind of statistical anomaly. Some odd effect of gerrymandering.

After all, what kind of troglodyte moron would ever think that women do not deserve a place in Congress? Or Muslims? Or members of the LGBTQ community?

The Republican party doesn’t have any of them, either, but again, it must be some kind of statistical anomaly. Otherwise we’d have to assume that a majority of Republicans are sexist, homophobic, and Islamophobic.

Bigots.

If given the opportunity, I’m sure the Republican party would happily elect an openly bisexual man or a Muslim woman or a plurality of women.

Right?