WHO’S GOT ‘EM?
GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney didn’t beat U.S. President Barack Obama in the second 2012 presidential debate this week, but for the most part he turned in another solid performance.
For the most part …
Romney did commit a major gaffe (and create a memorable meme) during his response to a question about equal pay for women. According to the former Massachusetts governor, while assembling his cabinet a decade ago in the Bay State he noticed a shortage of female applicants.
“I went to my staff, and I said, ‘How come all the people for these jobs are — are all men,'” Romney recalled. “They said, ‘Well, these are the people that have the qualifications.’ And I said, ‘Well, gosh, can’t we — can’t we find some — some women that are also qualified?'”
That’s when an already patronizing answer took a turn for the … well, curious.
“We took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women.”
Binders full of women?
Yes, America. Binders full of women.
Within seconds of the “Republican” nomineee uttering his remark, Democratic operatives had scooped up domain names and social media sites were buzzing about Romney’s binders. A Twitter accounts – @RomneyBinders – racked up more than 30,000 followers almost instantly.
Meanwhile the web was littered with hilarious spoof images like the one above … or this one …
In other words, the remark “went viral.” And not in a good way for Romney …
So … how should he have answered the question?
Easy: Romney should have told the questioner (one of the few debate attendees who didn’t appear to be lobotomized) that men and women employed for the purpose of performing core government functions would always receive equal pay in his administration – but that beyond these public sector positions it isn’t government’s job to tell employers how much to pay people.
That may not have been the politically correct answer, but would have been the right one.
Romney might have also added that unemployment among women has risen from 7.1 percent to 8 percent under Obama, and from 12.5 percent to 14.4 percent among young women – and that “American women wanting more abundant, better-paying jobs should vote for me while those who wanted to continue down the current path should vote for (Obama).”
That would have been nice …
Instead we got a meandering, pandering tale of dubious veracity and “binders full of women.”
UPDATE: It was only a matter of time before Bill Clinton rushed to be a part of was dragged into this …
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35 comments
Most of the audience asking their questions reminded me of the people they interview when the tornado hits the trailer park.
Good one!
Will,
You know how I know you’re gay?
You watch John Cusack Movies.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
Women should be paid by their breast size.
As long as men are paid by penis size!!
NO! too many of us would then be below poverty level.
I’d be a gazillionaire
Several of the Boston news outlets have stories showing that Romney’s sequence of events just don’t line up with the facts (imagine that!).
According to the Boston press, a bipartisan Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus assembled resumes of women qualified for cabinet positions, agency heads, and authorities and commissions. This group took the binder to Governor Romney after he was elected and pushed him to appoint women …Romney did not seek out the information or instruct his staff to find this information but seemed to acquiesce to the demands of the women’s PAC.
Initially, Romney appointed 14 women among his 33 top positions (42% women) which is higher than the 30% that the previous administration averaged. The women were appointed to departments and agencies that he didn’t care about and that that he quite specifically wanted to not really do anything. A UMass-Boston study found the number of women actually declined throughout Romney’s term as the women-led agencies were consolidated into other agencies: by mid-term, the number of women had dropped to less than 30% and was down to 27.6% near the end of his term in November 2006.
Very curious, indeed.
Ah yes very curious indeed, just like Obama’s paying his female staff less than his male staff while touting his support of the Lilly Ledbetter Act:
“…According to a report published by the Free Beacon in April, the 2011 annual report on White House staff revealed that the median annual salary for female White House employees was 18 percent less than male employees — $60,000 compared to $71,000.
And in 2008, Scripps Howard syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock noted that as in Obama’s U.S. Senate office, women were paid less than men: While the average male staffer brought home $54,397, female staffers averaged $45,152….
The real question is the differences between male/female pay in same or like positions. If female staffers were making less than the male staffers of the same level, that’s definitely a problem. The average/median pay is dependent upon who holds the higher positions and how much those pay. It also doesn’t flesh out experience or performance factors that may vary between staffers.
The female staffers could just sue though, right?
What’s truly interesting about the ‘Binders Full Of Women’ comment and its quick turn into an exploding gaffe, is its illustration of how increased access to technology and high speed Internet connections has turned political and social discourse on its head.
20 years ago, maybe even 10 or 5 years ago, most people did not have access to the inexpensive camera/graphic technology or high speed Internet connections needed to make such a comment turn into the memorable meme and big joke that it has become in less than 12 hours after the phrase was used.
20 years or more ago, the ‘Binders Full Of Women’ comment most likely would have been viewed as “smart executive speak”. Now it’s a big knarly joke!
You mean a “…big gnarly joke…?
Knarly means extremely pleasing or magnificent.
You’re right – saw the mistake once I already posted.
I don’t know. Maybe we should trust Mitt on this one. One thing Mormon men know how to do is get a lot of women to work for them.
That’s good…because a lot of women have become unemployed under Barack Obama…
“Binders full of women” sounds creepy, like a guy clipping out pictures of some actresses and saving them in binders or something. Pretty funny, albeit unintentionally so.
Nah… “Binders full of women” is a subliminal advertisement for 38DD Wacoal Bras.
No question the Media (FITS) is Grasping for anything…
This report is a true sign that Obama did nothing to help himself, and Romney likely inflicted MORE damage…by stressing the economy…
Look for the Tend to continue toward a Romeny win…
The difference has nothing to do with women going bat shit crazy 3-7 days each month.
Wonder if he has a binder of politicals’ wives names in it? mistresses, too?
I believe that would be Bill Clinton with such a binder.
A binder full of Mormon teenage wives.
Must be one of those open-minded, religious-freedom liberals…huh???
Mitt: “What do you say to a woman with two black eyes?”
Me: “I don’t know, what?”
Mitt: “Nothing. You already told her twice.”
Didn’t Obama say his first instinct would be to ABORT his daughrter’s baby…should she “Get in Trouble”…..
What a Wonen’s Right advocate…WOW…
You are the PRIME example of the need for planned parent hood, big idio”T”.
YOU BETCHA!
YOU BETCHA!
Just wait ’til 2016.
HILLARY!
YOU BETCHA!
YOU BETCHA!
THE INSIDE THE BELTWAY BITCH!
I LUV IT!
With all those women’s names in the binders he could not find a woman to run as his VP?
Sarah screwed that pooch for all the Republican women
YOU BETCHA!
YOU BETCHA!
I guess Ferraro did the same for Dems.
Well it’s better than his original phrasing which was “binders full of women…who will be forced to have vaginal ultrasounds”
It isn’t government’s job to tell employers how much to pay people…
By that logic, an employer would be well within his rights to pay all of his white workers a higher wage than blacks. It’s his choice, right? You don’t like the pay, go work somewhere else. I know you’re not advocating for that position. But if you’re not in favor of government/judicial intervention, then that’s the kind of behavior that will occur. And it doesn’t have to be on racial or gender lines. Employers might decide to discriminate against gays or muslims or whatever. As a country, we need laws to prevent these kinds of behavior. (CRA, lilly ledbetter, etc.)
[steps down from soap box, gets back to work.]
Mormons believe that the role of the woman is to nurture children, not have jobs. Look it up. The following is an excerpt from the Church of Jesus Christ and later day Saints website:
“By divine design, fathers are to watch over and teach their families in love and righteousness. They are to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.”
Binders??
Jeez. Romney is so old school!
“My women” are kept in “folders”.
I calls it my “pone stash.”
*Furtively looks around. Mouths “thank you” to internet anonimity.*
Romney: “in the economy I’m going to bring to play, that are going to be so anxious to get good workers they’re going to be anxious to hire women.
Wheee, they’ll be so many jobs they’ll even hire women!
Speaking of women, it looked like Mittens needed a midol during his whiny debate performance.