Romney’s ‘Binders’ of Women Dominate Internet Post-Debate

Ah, sweet internets — you do have a way of picking out salient moments that our Official Information Gatekeepers might have missed in earlier times. Last night’s example? The “binders full of women” that Romney supposedly assembled as he filled his Massachusetts gubernatorial cabinet. Binder jokes exploded on Twitter after that moment in the presidential debate (my fave here), and a meme-collecting Tumblr blog, RomneyBinders twitter feed and Facebook page weren’t far behind.

Note that as of 13 hours after the debate wrapped up, the Facebook page already had 273,000(!) followers — if that’s not a record, it’s got to be close. Clearly Romney’s words hit a nerve, one that’s likely to stay sore through election day (another good line I saw flicker by last night: “Some of Romney’s best friends are women”). And if we had to rely on network news soundbite editors for our post-debate analysis, like we did 20 years ago, that line might just have slipped by unremarked upon. Remember E.J.’s prediction from yesterday — watch Twitter to see how the debate will be spun, respun and otherwise processed after it happens. “Binders” aren’t going away soon, and neither are those women voters looking on the Republican standard-bearer with newly jaundiced eyes.

– cpd