Objective observers can agree that President Obama's debate performance two weeks ago fell far short, but the setback featured one saving grace: there was no moment. Obama was off his game, but there wasn't a major, high-profile, embarrassing setback that could be replayed over and again.
By this measure, Mitt Romney's defeat last night was even worse, because he teed up all kinds of moments. He embarrassed himself on Benghazi; he was laughed at over the size of his pension; and of course he offered the political world the gift of "binders full of women."
The question was excellent: "In what new ways do you intend to rectify the inequalities in the workplace, specifically regarding females making only 72 percent of what their male counterparts earn?" It was an easy one for Obama -- he signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law and has an excellent record when it comes to appointing women to key positions.
It's more of a problem for Romney, who refuses to even give an opinion on the Ledbetter law; who suggested last night that some women need to leave work early to "make dinner" for their kids; and who defended his record by saying he sought and received "binders full of women" when looking to fill his gubernatorial cabinet.
The ridicule is still going strong 12 hours later. It shows no signs of abating.
Let's quickly set the record straight.
First, Romney's story about seeking women applicants was a lie. Second, during Romney's tenure at Bain Capital, there were exactly zero women partners (not enough binders?). Third, during his one term as governor, he invalidated a half-dozen executive orders establishing affirmative action policies for women.
And this doesn't even touch on the fact that Romney won't endorse the pending Violence Against Women Act; Romney took the coward's way out when Limbaugh targeted Sandra Fluke; Romney has offered support for a "Personhood" measure that's so extreme it would ban some forms of birth control; Romney intends to destroy the Affordable Care Act, which would be a huge setback millions of women; and Romney's running mate has one of the worst voting records on women's issues in Congress.
BindersFullOfWomen.com, which American Bridge put together with blinding speed last night, has more.
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Romney took advantage of other people's work? Well he did make his money that way.
I was standing up yelling at Crowley. My eldest girl came up to see what was wrong.
I was watching Romney ignore Crowley's entreaties to sit down, that it was not his turn, but it was clear Romney was going to do as he pleased.
The binder Romney had on Crowley was that he knew that she would not use an imperative verb form and say, "Governor, sit down. It is not your turn." Hayes spent his remarks on the essence of Obama's reduction. We are bound by facts and by civility. Romney expected Crowley could be bulldogged and he could brush her aside and ignore the rules she was reminding him of. He was right. Crowley would give up telling him to sit down and he would be able to do what he wanted.
Crowley was trapped in the binder of civility. She was not going to create a moment and turn off his microphone- perhaps a forgotten debate moment of a candidate named Reagan confronting a moderator- an alpha dog moment that delivered Reagan from the precipice of early elimination in the GOP primaries of 1980.
Obama gave the high road a shot, but the polls told the story that the public would be swayed by superficial impressions- not logic and fact stripped of drama. The second debate would be a show dominated by alpha dog pugilism rather than a real debate like that of Lincoln or Douglas, or those of the founding fathers debating constitutional principles. Last night the sports nuts got the alpha dog show in spades, and Crowley was the Ref.
Maddow made a reference I don't think many understood, referring to the pugilism as Capoeira- the Brazilan martial art incorporating dance. I disagree. This was a boxing match where one player did not accept that he had to be bound by the rules. Romney expected Crowley to be bound by rules, he expected Obama to remain in bondage to rules. CEOs act like that.
So I was standing on my feet encouraging Crowley to assert her role as moderator and not be steam rolled.
What I learned from my grandmother was that is is really not a good idea to cross an intelligent woman with alpha dog steam rolling. Things happen. Inexplicably, apparently by accident, shrouded with multiple layers of plausible deniability, observing rules of decorum, the alpha dog is undone.
Romney expected that everyone else would be bound by the rules of decorum and bound by facts, but as an ubermench of the 1%, he would be free to do as he pleased.
Until Crowley refused to allow the charade, and Romney was shackled with a fact.
The look of incredulity on Romney's face was telling. Crowley was not doing was Romneyworld journalists were "supposed to do". She would not be bound by his expectations. The truth would set her free, and shackle Romney's ubermench "freedom" to do as he pleased. In RomneyWorld- Kenneth Lay final analysis, the 1 percent believes it doesn't matter what the "crazy people" do to try to restrain them. They will game the system and win.
That's why Hayes, though he seemed to be talking about a theme of his book, had the best analysis last night.
I was yelling, too! No! No! Don't let him butt in! Crowley was firm and fair. It set the tone right away that she would not be bullied... good for her!
If more people understood Mormontology, they would see Romney's action for what it is: the Mormon attitude toward women. Women are secondary and subservient to their husbands (who get to determine if the wife gets into heaven!), they stay home and make babies and take care of them and are certain to have dinner on the table for the Lord And Master when he comes home from his day spent conning the world.
Saw a couple women commentators on CNN this morning dealing with this business, and one asked "Does he live in a Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower world?" Why yes, he does. Actually, he lives in a 19th Century Husband World.
Seeing him in the Libya moment was great. He had that "shark smile" on, he was about to "get that boy," and when Crowley fact checked him right there, it looked like he had just taken a punch in the gut, the way the wind came out and his facial expression turned to "WTF??!!!"
The alpha dog role was evident in a more respectful but firm manner by Obama.
The true people came out on display.
Obama was asserting himself with just the right amount of respect, yet correcting the lies.
Rmoney was trying to assert his dominance, but with a great lack of respect for Crowley, the President AND the women/people. Sneering and grabbing for the biggest piece of food.
Rmoney thought he could steamroll over Crowley and put a spotlight on his view of people is a piece of paper in a binder to put in his portfolio when needed.
The scene at the end showed again, Rmoney did not mingle with the people, only his family.
Kudos to Crowley for saying "it's in the transcript" the President did call it an act of terror on Sept 12.
Then the K.O. was Obama saying the 47%, Rmoney showed his true feelings about people are just victims that get government checks.
It quickly descended into a street fight when Romney cheated on rules about direct questions, and then in badgering Crowley into allowing him to speak when it was not his time to.
Obama had a choice to be polite and risk getting knifed by Romney again. Instead he played by the rules as they emerged. If Crowley would allow Romney to take a turn when he wanted, then Obama would use the same bulldog tactic of insisting on response time.
So Obama was doing it too.
It became a street fight when Romney came at Obama's energy policy with a baseball bat. Exxon, the Koch brothers and the rest of the energy corporations were livid that Obama dared to tell them they could not sit on their licenses and they must either use them or lose them. As their representative, Romney had a prepared assault on that reality but Obama refuse to let him distort the truth, and interrupt him saying it wasn't true.
Romney, flustered, ignored the agreed on rules of the debate and posed a direct question to Obama because he believed he had the advantage. Obama was prepared for Romney ignoring this rules and had cover for his interruption pointing out that Romney had in fact asked him a question. Romney foolishly had placed himself in a position where it would be impossible for him to deny the president the opportunity to respond. This was an unforced error, though not as big as the 100% reference perfectly teeing up Obama for his devastating close.
MSNBC had a copy of the debate rules that stated candidates may not ask questions directly to the other. When Hayes brought this up, unfortunately to many viewers it may have come off as the kind of comment made by nerd kids who cite Robert's Rules of Order. But it strikes to the heart of the Kenneth Lay attitude towards rules that permeates the rottenness of the plutocracy of America.
The rottenness that allowed Reagan to tell the big lies about Carter's reforms to Middle East and energy policy. The rottenness behind the repeal of Glass Steagal. The rottenness behind the Neocon greed for Iraqi oil and US hegemony in the gulf. The rottenness of the collusion and gaming of regulatory controls and professional standards of prudent banking that led to the 2008 meltdown. The rottenness of GOP obstruction of any job legislation during a national economic crisis. The rottenness of Romney / Ryan's aggressive assault on civility and reality.
This idea that the truth and rules don't apply to the 1% was the essence of Obama's distillation of Romney's Five points into one.
Romney insisted on having his say,
Thinking Obama would wimp out today...
After gaffe followed gaffe,
Barack had the last laugh -
Showing Mitt, Turnabout is Fair Play...
It turns out Mitt's story on women
Appears to have been rather thin...
Well, here's a reminder,
The definition of "binder"
Includes Bondage and Discipline...
JohnMesserly, Amen brother.
People forget the old history and our recent history.
Good post. Mitt says that Obama had 4 years and the whole world should have changed by now. But the reality is that our nation has been changing slowly over the past 40 to 50 years. The corporations have been influencing our government and the politicians allowed it.
R-Money... exposed last night as the fraud he is!
Speaking of lies, Romney made the claim last night:
Well I went and looked up those "studies" at the State University of New York, Albany, (and it wasn't easy with the sketchy information he supplied):
http://www.albany.edu/womeningov/publications.shtml
What I found is that Montana was actually #1 since it appointed 18 women and 15 men; and Massachusetts was #7 with 32 women and 39 men appointed. At 32 women, Romney probably DID appoint more women than any other state, but that DOES NOT take into account population differences. For instance Massachusetts has over 6 times the population of Montana so if Massachusetts were to claim first, it would had to appoint at least 6 times what Montana did or at least 108 women.
Ahhh, and then there is that "binder" thing!
From:
So Romney wasn't even involved, yet has the balls to "claim" the work of his Lt. Governor, a woman!!!
In addition, the percentage of women was lower at the end of Romney's term than before he started.
I bet you Ann instructed their kitchen staff to always make a good dinner for Mitt when he came home from work with a binder full of women.
"Binders full of women"
I was having visions of women hand-cuffed being hoarded into small compartments all so Mittens could take a look at them, then I snapped out of it and said oh he!! NO he didn't go there!
And at what point did he feel that Candy Crowley was there as a figure head as he kept dismissing her?
Mitt Romney so not ready to lead US forward!!
it had a "mail order brides" way about it, didn't it? Maybe that's one of those secrets they don't want coming out of Utah.
You can barely suggest the influence of Mitt's Mormon base in this election without being decried as a bigot. But the truth is he has a huge support system in his church.
Obama isn't only running against Romney/Ryan. He is running against the coordinated organization of fourteen million who want to see Romney win. The Deseret News, a large Mormon owned newspaper, is rumored to have disbanded in the recent past . And have sent out many journalists to flood this market during election with online blogs and op ed pieces.
So here is the question. Do we want the Mormon church itself to become ever increasingly influential in the politics of this nation? One thing you cannot fault them for is that they do stand up for their own and work well to support the goals of the church. For that, I do tip my hat. It is a well organized group. Probably one of the best.
Setting the church aside, there are questions emerging about Bain Capital investments in the company that supplies voting machines to the swing states. That's getting a little traction, Hart Intercivic being the company in question.
Well of course Mitt asked for 'binders full of women', after all, they'd be cheaper because he doesn't believe in paying them as much as men
Oh, so that means he actually hired some of them? As secretaries? In technical positions? In upper management?
Or are these questions as ridiculous as "Where are your tax returns, Governor Romney?
Tax returns is a ridiculous question but requesting college records for 4 years isn't? Nice try, NeedMoreTeabags.
he didn't ask for the binder. It was offered to him. A critical difference.
He said he ordered that it be assembled (not in those words). So the critical difference becomes a critical mistruth.
Well, either he couldn't figure out how to approach women or he couldn't be bothered. Thus, someone had to assemble the binders. The fact that he couldn't figure out on his own how/who to hire in a state full of excellent institutions of higher learning shows how little imagination he has.
You always know that when your own friends in the spin room say it "wasn't the best choice of wording," or something like that, you just screwed up royally.
It really did smack of, "Some of my best friends are women!" And it's oh so easy to meme that on the Internet. So, so hilariously easy.
Props to the Beyonce fans out there who came up with, "He shoulda put three rings on it." Hehe... This isn't getting old soon.
Actually, it smacked more of "None of my best friends are women, and I don't even know any women, but I know where to get some if I decide I need them."
There's a word for that.
I'm always mystified by Republicans who think an appropriate answer to "what policies will you have to address women" is "I personally treat women well." Okay, but considering that only a tiny number of women will ever work for you, so what? It just reinforces the perception that they don't really view women as people.
I can't help but wonder how the "Binders full of women" feel about the idea that "Government doesn't create jobs".
Were they volunteers? What about all the people, men and women, who are employed by defence contractors? who is going to build the ships he wants for the navy leprechauns?
What does he think we spend all the money we pay in taxes on?
Yes Government creates jobs, and a lot of them are for "Binders full of women"
And jobs for men. And teachers, fire fighters, police, planners, librarians, flight control operators and on and on and on. Not only are many people employed in government jobs, but we ALL depend on these people!
I agree, Massa., but Dragoon is very correct in pointing out that government contracts are the bottom line for many corps, large and small. Wasn't it just last week that Romney was talking about how the defense budget cuts would cause a tank factory in Ohio to close, thus causing a job loss?
How conservatives can argue both sides and get away with it, is beyond reason. And when did police, fire fighters, teachers, postal workers, etc. become the villains of our society? Yes, those are jobs that create economic growth just as much as the tank factory workers, and the funding comes from the taxpayer for both!
I live in Arizona, and we're facing approximately 80,000 jobs lost with the defense budget cuts. Continuing to build more vehicles, weapons, missiles, etc. is not the answer to a strong economy, however. We could take that money and put it into infrastructure repair and most likely create more jobs than is lost in the defense industry, while actually doing something that's desperately needed in this country!
Remember, the supplies needed to do those repairs do not drop magically from the sky. We need concrete, steel, and many more supplies to complete those repairs, and supplying those items also creates jobs. Here in Arizona we also have concrete plants and many sand & gravel companies that have shut down due to the recession. These could open again. Yes those companies are smaller than Raytheon, Boeing, General Dynamics, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Plus, the end result is preferable to building thousands more missiles to warehouse.
We don't need another war.
So, Romney was in the private sector for, like 20 or 30 years prior to becoming Governor. Despite this, Romney had to look to outside his own resources for qualified women to put in these positions. This speaks volumes (some might even say it speaks whole binders) about the way Romney does business and his history regarding equal opportunities for women.
My thoughts also. He has all this experience (according to him) building companies, creating jobs, saving the Olympics and then when it came down to appointing women to his Massachusetts staff - he had to resort to a binder full of women. Wow. Furthermore, he came off arrogant, off-putting, and as a man who definitely likes getting his own way regardless of the rules. Rules don't apply to him afterall - and it showed as he tried to unsuccessfully bully his way over the moderator and the President.
largenose, what a great way to see through all the hilarity to the real issue...thanks! stealing!!!
I din't think of that. You are so right!
Binders Full of Women: Because women are just commodities after all, where a man can just flip through a few pages and then order up one that is to his liking.
I am concerned, however. Mitt was governor in the 21st century and his women were in binders - not on the internet! Clearly, he is not keeping up with the rest of the woman-ordering world.
What I find most disturbing, is that apparently Mitt isn't even being honest about this binders full of women stuff. This was actually something that was brought up to him by a group that was concerned with the lack of women in state leadership positions and he was given a binder by them that had the names of women qualified for these positions, in hopes that he would address this as Governor, Which he didn't do. He didn't appoint women in the top positions of his cabinet anyway, nor did he make the issue one of his priorities as governor. Another sleazy lie by Romney, is anyone even surprised by him anymore? He is shameless.
Shame and Republican politics do not mix. It is like crying and baseball.
I just hope that the group that gave him the binders repsonds and corrects his BS about it. He just made that crap up anyway.
And now Rachel has found the info about this as well and linked to it. Thanks!
BindersFullOfWomen.com hasn't been set up yet. But http://bindersfullofwomen.tumblr.com/ is going strong :-)
I think that webpage "Women for Romney" ought to change its name to "Binder Women"!
"Binder Women"......sounds a bit naughty.....
Or maybe "Binder Chicks" . . .
"Binders full of women" is so old school! I'm an old guy and even I know that most guys use file folders on a computer. ;-)
It's like he was trying to brag about his "little black book" as the players used to call it "back in the day". Now you just put her digits in the phone.
But honestly, he views people and women as a piece of paper in a binder, not really a "people person. Let alone the advocate for female workers: "if they work" can get flex time so they can get home and feed the children (where they belong?)
To authenticate Romney's lies about his time as Governor, some official from the State from that time needs to be interviewed. Perhaps printed copies of the orders that squashed affirmative action programs would be useful. Oops, my bad. Romney destroyed all the computer hard drives. So much for the Public Record.
What I find most telling about Romney's responses is how he personalizes them into fluff rather than engaging on a policy level. Having sought out women or not wasn't the issue; policies that impact on a national level are or should be the focus of a presidential campaign.
Right. He never answered the question of whether or not he supports equal pay for equal work.
Obviously, he flat out doesn't support it!
Not to mention the comment about women not being able to work until 7-8 o'clock at night. There are many professions that don't require you to stay at your desk that late. And many of us working gals take a break, have dinner, and perhaps log a few more hours in the evening. He is so used to his June and Ward lifestyle he is out of touch with reality.
Women I know with small children have daycare....and it's expensive, but they are working because 1) they are the sole provider 2) they need the insurance because their husband's is inadequate 3) they don't want to lose their jobs and come back 6 years later to find that their jobs are gone.
My job at the time wasn't worth the daycare, so I stayed home and we roughed it for 7 years. And the jobs available to me after such a hiatus were not great. So I got an MBA and spent 11 years at one company, going up the ladder and BAM! They "eliminated" my position. Yeah, try getting a job in this economy after you're 50. It doesn't happen. I'm unemployed....but I'm not considered as being such and so am not counted.
So....I like Obama for his views on equality....but I don't think he has a clue about business. Neither does Romney, he'll just send jobs to China.
I think the bigger issue here is that times are changing and more men are taking an active role in the family. Business needs to change their attitudes as well as people. The very idea that women are still responsible for the kids is antiquated at best.
This is even further displayed when you have sam sex couples with families. One can't make gender discriminations in the workplace then. It throws the republicans beliefs in a tail spin which why they so dislike the idea of sam sex marriage.
If Republicans are so family valued oriented then why are they not supporting both parents being involved in their kids lives and couples adopting kids who otherwise may not have a family or him.
Give FUBARRomney an Etch A Sketch and a binder full of women and he's set for the whole day.
Much Left Uncovered During The Two Debates.
we can close the book on direct discussion of health care policy. Pretty much all we got was a brief discussion of Medicaid in the first debate, a line about the Obamacare "cut" of $716 billion, and a line last night about George Bush not proposing to replace Medicare with a Coupon Care. These issues affect how millions of us live in this country (about two thirds of Medicaid spending pays for the elderly and/or disabled).
To me,
Obama's best moment was when he asked Romney if he would support a business deal which wouldn't share the details about how it would work until after approval for the deal was given. Obama probably continues to gain a bit of the ground he lost after the first debate.This Question exposes Romney's Fraudulence and contempt for Journalist and the People he's seeking their votes.
And if i have a warning for Romney,He should be very careful when debating the President on Foreign policy,he risk's being ridiculed.He seem to have the cowboy mentality of the cold war era.
I agree with you, but I must admit, while I'm a liberal, I am sick to death of trying to tolerate relgions and cultures that wage war on their own people and anyone different from them. I haven't degraded into a cold war mentality, but why are we giving money to people who want to kill us?
The best line on the recent uprising in the middle-east came from The Daily Show (go figure) - John was interviewing a "correspondent in the middle east" who said – give Muslims a break, it's a young religion" John replied its 1400 years old – the correspondent replied– well in religion years that's a teenager – after all look at what Christianity was doing when it was 1400 – the crusades – the inquisition – 200 years later they were just down to burning Witches.
They didn't even go into Northern Ireland etc. that is much more recent...
These conversations always make me think that we have to live up to our ideals about freedom of religion.
While I agree with your statement, Kathy, it's not just in foreign countries that certain religions wage war on citizens of that country. We also see it here in America from the evangelicals.
Did we ever do away with the policy from the GW Bush era where the government gave grants and awards to religious groups here in the US? And don't forget we just had the pulpit protest where pastors were demanding the right to tell their congregations who to vote for, from the pulpit, while still maintaining the church's tax exempt status. That tax exempt status is just as much a government subsidy as if the award was made in a cash payment.
We have a subculture and religion within American that does just that. Abortion clinic bombings and the Murrah Federal building - and hate, lies, and discrimination against anyone who isn't a member of and following the hateful tenets of that religion - including perfectly good Christians who happen to interpret the Bible differently.
Translation---Mitt wants women bound to the kitchen!
Binders full of women who will not be able to legally terminate an unwanted pregnancy..
Think about it!
Unless they are Willard's son Tagg & his wife...
Tagg & his wife had a surrogate child (baked in a different oven) last year. It was financed by daddy Mittens. It included specific provisions that Tagg could order an abortion based upon any criteria decided upon by the Willard's son.
I just have to question Romney now running even on the women 's issue vote. I was so happy Obama brought it into the debate on several occasions. Medicare , Medicade & women's issues need much more attention. 90 minutes are not enough time. It was refreshing that O was able to highlight R's many lies. R does not want to let go what he thought would be a winner for him on foreign policy. He may want to rethink that, at least with John Bolton as an adviser, he should. Does he think we are stupid or have somehow forgotten?
Veteran: Do you have a link for that? I'd like to share it with some Romney supporting friends.
SadOldVeteran - me too!
So, that's where they go "Tagg it and bag it" from!
My concern is after hearing the panel of "undecided" folks after the debate. I was boggled to hear almost all the women say they were leaning towards Romney because he will be better for the economy and jobs. He has many fooled that just because he has made millions that he will turn our economy around. I was very enlightened recently to have read the article in Rolling Stone magazine entitled Politics: Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital. Most people reading this may come away with a clearer understanding how Romney works!
http://m.rollingstone.com/entry/view/id/31287/pn/all/p/0/?KSID=4512c30003f41a17f66c550f82a73a97
Seriouly ladies, you NEED to read this.
I worked for a medical device company...they layed off 200 people in March. I was one of them...actually, they just eliminated my job. I live in a blue state and I don't see my rights eroding. But the economy is the biggest issue. I'm being selfish. I'm more concerned about the economy than my rights as a woman. As long as I don't move to Louisiana I'm safe.
That's why, at this point, I call undecideds the uninformed. And that panel confirmed my beliefs about them.
The ignorance of that panel was stunning. "He did a good job in Massachusetts"? No he did not.
If Romney wins, you won't be safe in any state. How in the world can you have been listening to Romney dodge and evade questions about how he'll pay for tax cuts and trillions more to the military and still think he'll be good for the economy? It's baffling.
Why would anyone want to vote for a tax dodger? Seriously?
I found that disturbing as well and they said it was because of his record as Governor. When he took office Massachusetts was ranked 34th in the Nation for job creation and when he left office they were ranked 47th for job creation. He left Massachusetts with a deficit and I believe Massachusetts law mandates that you balance the budget and he did this by hiking fees and increasing Corporate taxes, and didn't he outsource call center jobs overseas. Where is the job creation?
"As long as I don't move to Louisiana I'm safe."
Or, "I'm all right, Jack, pull up the ladder."
I'm trying to connect to the source of where I heard that Romney never asked for any information about women who might be qualified for his cabinet, but it won't laod for me. Anyway, if anyone is interested it is on the site thephoenix.com in the blogs sextion. It's a Boston based site.
Here is a transcript with the truth attached... From http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/talkingpolitics/archive/2012/10/16/mind-the-binder.aspx
ROMNEY: Thank you. An important topic, and one which I learned a great deal about, particularly as I was serving as governor of my state, because I had the chance to pull together a cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men.
And I -- and I went to my staff, and I said, "How come all the people for these jobs are -- are all men." 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?"
And -- and so we -- 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.
I was proud of the fact that after I staffed my Cabinet and my senior staff, that the University of New York in Albany did a survey of all 50 states, and concluded that mine had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America.
Now one of the reasons I was able to get so many good women to be part of that team was because of our recruiting effort.
Not a true story.
What actually happened was that in 2002 -- prior to the election, not even knowing yet whether it would be a Republican or Democratic administration -- a bipartisan group of women in Massachusetts formed MassGAP to address the problem of few women in senior leadership positions in state government. There were more than 40 organizations involved with the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus (also bipartisan) as the lead sponsor.
They did the research and put together the binder full of women qualified for all the different cabinet positions, agency heads, and authorities and commissions. They presented this binder to Governor Romney when he was elected.
I have written about this before, in various contexts; tonight I've checked with several people directly involved in the MassGAP effort who confirm that this history as I've just presented it is correct -- and that Romney's claim tonight, that he asked for such a study, is false.
I will write more about this later, but for tonight let me just make a few quick additional points. First of all, according to MassGAP and MWPC, Romney did appoint 14 women out of his first 33 senior-level appointments, which is a reasonably impressive 42 percent. However, as I have reported before, those were almost all to head departments and agencies that he didn't care about -- and in some cases, that he quite specifically wanted to not really do anything. None of the senior positions Romney cared about -- budget, business development, etc. -- went to women.
Secondly, a UMass-Boston study found that the percentage of senior-level appointed positions held by women actually declined throughout the Romney administration, from 30.0% prior to his taking office, to 29.7% in July 2004, to 27.6% near the end of his term in November 2006. (It then began rapidly rising when Deval Patrick took office.)
Third, note that in Romney's story as he tells it, this man who had led and consulted for businesses for 25 years didn't know any qualified women, or know where to find any qualified women. So what does that say?
Thank you! It seems that they've got this now! Awesome!
I can't even handle one woman, let alone a whole binder. Perhaps he should search the Romney files for how grandpa handled all those wives, certainly Gramps had a binder, right...
Isn't that why his family moved to Mexico? Too many wives?
Yes, but I believe it was great-grandpa, not the grandfather.
The group that gave him the binders of women was MassGap and the Massachusetts Women's Politcal Caucus was their main sponsor and it included more than 40 different organizations. Romney never searched out women for his cabinet like he claimed.
So what! I am sure that Willard looked thru all the pictures to see if any were worth consideration for jobs in his administration.
Did Mitt order and recieve binders full of men?
(where's my blood pressure medicine...grrr)
During the debate, I heard Romney twice accuse the president of doubling the deficit. Didn't Rachel just show us a graph to the contrary? Or am I interpreting data wrongly?
No, you're interpreting it correctly. The Obama doubled the deficit claim has been debunked by all the fact checking organizations. The deficit was already over $1 trillion when Obama was sworn into office Jan 20, 2009. It ended that year on Oct 31, 2009 at $1.3 trillion.
When making those (and many other) claims, I've noticed the Romney campaign uses 2008 data. The trick to this is that these numbers are done on a FY basis, so that means FY 2008 begins Nov 1, 2007 and lasts until Oct 31 2008. It ended even before the election.
He keeps his ladies in binders.
Bound. In the kitchen.
The GOP base isn't seeing the problem with that.
President Obama actually did the right thing on this town hall debate, since he still acted as the modern man and wasn’t going to let Romney get away with his bully attitude. Romney continued with his bullying ape behavior wanting to hoard and dictate the conversation. In reality, there is very little modern male maturity in Romney, except to express that primitive ape behavior he has in his genes. To actually do a DNA study from these men would be a really good study to do, since from the primitive ape species Romney and other Republicans do represent those qualities very much so from those very actions that they do. That is one thing so transparent that can be seen where we really show we have those primitive ape genes in the human species. These men in reality are lacking something in what is a more human species and tend to lean to a more aggressive primitive ape.