Binders Full Of Women, So, yeah, there was a debate tonight? Or something? Yes, only the Biggest Moment Yet in this agonizingly long campaign-- I watched with my girlfriend while talking on gchat to my best friend who is currently living in Israel.
We had hashed out all of the weeks polls, and talked about the numbers in the predictive markets, and were mildly fretful about the debate before it started. Of course, as we all soon realized, there was no need to worry-- the I Got This version of Obama showed up and did his thing, looking calm and reasonable, while at the same time firm against Romney's aggressive tactics. Great and good. In the middle of this encouraging performance, something great happened. Jump below the Rococo Squiggle with me .Binders full of women."
When Romney made that statement, my girlfriend and I both bust out laughing-- did he really say that? What a perfect encapsulation of Romney's poor people skills, elite detachment, and penchant for bizarre word combinations. I was delighted! It was also a fairly quick moment, and 40 more minutes of debate still left to go. The questions continued, Romney flubbed Libya, Obama sounded strong on immigration and rambly about gun control. When the debate ended, I felt like Obama had scored a solid victory, and my team and I were well satisfied.
But lo-- I was watching on NBC. One of the first sentences out of Brian Williams' mouth: "There were many memorable phrases tonight-- 'binders full of women . . .'" He mentioned it first! Someone else caught it!
I flipped to CBS.
"Binders full of women . . ."
Oh. This is a thing?? I flipped to CNN
"Romney stumbling slightly on women's issues, talking about 'binders full of women . . .'"
Oh boy. This is more than a hilarious diversion. People Are Talking about this . . . Even the media gatekeepers seized on it as one of their main first-run talking points. So I took to Facebook to gauge the peer reaction. And then . . . this:A hilarious tumblr page, already with 40+ BFOW images sent in by various users. Holy cow! Like, EVERYONE is doing this. 10 friends' statuses all reference #bindersfullofwomen. Then, I noticed this.
150 thousand likes for a facebook group created less than an hour ago.
This little episode, which I hope continues for a few days at least, is instructive in a few ways. First, it showcases the power of social media to drive narratives beyond typical talking points, and to make truly hilarious cases for and about issues that are typically overlooked. Second, it showcases how everyone, from the traditional media to social media, immediately understood that Romney's now-famous quote wasn't just a stumble in a response without prepared remarks. It was that, but it was also a little window into Bizzarro Mitt Romney World, a place the Romney campaign has been doing their best to cover up for the past 2 weeks-- a place where poor people skills meets country club elitism meets bizarrely out-of-touch phrasing.
I for one am having a ball with this new little meme, and I hope you guys do as well. Send some submissions in! Let's make this stick to Romney's ribs for a couple days.
We had hashed out all of the weeks polls, and talked about the numbers in the predictive markets, and were mildly fretful about the debate before it started. Of course, as we all soon realized, there was no need to worry-- the I Got This version of Obama showed up and did his thing, looking calm and reasonable, while at the same time firm against Romney's aggressive tactics. Great and good. In the middle of this encouraging performance, something great happened. Jump below the Rococo Squiggle with me .Binders full of women."
When Romney made that statement, my girlfriend and I both bust out laughing-- did he really say that? What a perfect encapsulation of Romney's poor people skills, elite detachment, and penchant for bizarre word combinations. I was delighted! It was also a fairly quick moment, and 40 more minutes of debate still left to go. The questions continued, Romney flubbed Libya, Obama sounded strong on immigration and rambly about gun control. When the debate ended, I felt like Obama had scored a solid victory, and my team and I were well satisfied.
But lo-- I was watching on NBC. One of the first sentences out of Brian Williams' mouth: "There were many memorable phrases tonight-- 'binders full of women . . .'" He mentioned it first! Someone else caught it!
I flipped to CBS.
"Binders full of women . . ."
Oh. This is a thing?? I flipped to CNN
"Romney stumbling slightly on women's issues, talking about 'binders full of women . . .'"
Oh boy. This is more than a hilarious diversion. People Are Talking about this . . . Even the media gatekeepers seized on it as one of their main first-run talking points. So I took to Facebook to gauge the peer reaction. And then . . . this:A hilarious tumblr page, already with 40+ BFOW images sent in by various users. Holy cow! Like, EVERYONE is doing this. 10 friends' statuses all reference #bindersfullofwomen. Then, I noticed this.
150 thousand likes for a facebook group created less than an hour ago.
This little episode, which I hope continues for a few days at least, is instructive in a few ways. First, it showcases the power of social media to drive narratives beyond typical talking points, and to make truly hilarious cases for and about issues that are typically overlooked. Second, it showcases how everyone, from the traditional media to social media, immediately understood that Romney's now-famous quote wasn't just a stumble in a response without prepared remarks. It was that, but it was also a little window into Bizzarro Mitt Romney World, a place the Romney campaign has been doing their best to cover up for the past 2 weeks-- a place where poor people skills meets country club elitism meets bizarrely out-of-touch phrasing.
I for one am having a ball with this new little meme, and I hope you guys do as well. Send some submissions in! Let's make this stick to Romney's ribs for a couple days.
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