Forbes: Angela & Hillary Are The Most Powerful (Again) But WTF? Gaga Outranks Ellen Johnson Sirleaf? Where is Catherine Ashton?

Stunning that with all those "pop" names on the list, nowhere do I see Catherine Ashton's name!  Have I missed it, or is she somehow simply not on the list?  The list becomes something of a joke when Lady Gaga (# 14) outranks Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (#82) , and Catherine Ashton is left off completely.  Before the "Little Monsters" jump all over me:  Regardless of how many of you she can reach with a single tweet (that may or may not be earth-shattering - more likely not), I fail to see  how being a Tweet Star (the reason given by Moira Forbes for this ranking) makes Gaga more powerful than the first woman elected president of an African nation or how Cathy Ashton somehow does not qualify at all.

I love to see Hillary Clinton honored, but when the list is this unbalanced and disorganized it loses its gravitas and becomes just another pop item.

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 11: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C) speaks during a meeting of the Quartet on the Middle East Peace while flanked by US envoy for Middle East Peace David Hale (R), and EU Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton (L), during the G8 Foreign Ministers meeting, on April 11, 2012 in Washington, DC. Secretary Clinton hosted this years G8 Foreign Ministers conference at the Blair House. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

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8/22/2012 @ 11:32AM |

The Most Powerful Women In Politics, 2012

For the second year running, three of the top five women on FORBES list of the world’s 100 most powerful women are politicians. In the list as a whole, 19 politicians hold court, including eight heads of state. It wasn’t a U.S. election year, which explains the exit of the Tea Party candidates who wielded considerable power in 2011, but overall more than half of the political returnees from last year’s list shot considerably up the rankings.

What does this say about the changing dynamic of women in politics around the world? In the words of former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, alittle something like this: “People say there are not enough qualified women, that’s one of the biggest bullshit things I’ve ever heard.”

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