Here’s Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney explaining how he asked for “binders full of women” who were qualified to serve in his cabinet during his time as Governor of Massachusetts:
Putting aside how creepy it is that Mitt Romney had “binders full of women” – and “creepy” is the exact word my wife used – Mitt Romney’s claim that he “went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks,'” and those groups in turn brought him “whole binders full of women” to choose from is FALSE. As reported by David Bernstein of the Talking Politics blog, in 2002 (prior to the Massachusetts gubernatorial election) a bipartisan group of women in Massachusetts formed MassGAP to address the problem of too few women in senior leadership positions in state government. The group set out to address the problem without even knowing at the time whether a Republican or Democrat would be elected governor.
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.
Once again, Mitt Romney has proven he’s not above distorting the truth – or just plain lying – in order to make himself look more human and empathetic than he really is.
This is probably just a simple false memory on Romney’s part. As a wealthy man, born into privilege, who has been surrounded by yes-men and ass kissers his entire life, he obviously assumes that everything has been done specially for him.
“As a wealthy man, born into privilege” Blah blah blah. I’ve had it up to here with that. Did you have a problem with Al Gore or John Kerry?
Oh the torrential sympathies I have for your erroneous frustrations, FMSN. You’ll be wallowing about in your caustic denial for quite some time because the class coup inaugurated by the wealthy and the usurpation of our economic system by big finance and big business are the defining issues of our time. Even if Romney wins the election in November, these issues will not be swept under the carpet. Quite the contrary.
Al Gore and John Kerry weren’t advocating for a class coup. Nor were they oblivious to the interests of the majority of Americans who didn’t share their station in life. Unlike Romney and the radical GOP Extremists their political positions weren’t supportive of coercive intrusion upon individual liberties, minimizing individual control of one’s own life, authoritarian culture, or corruption of our government fabric.
So, you just keep your mind closed and insulate yourself from the looming inevitabilities, keep your mind’s eye squeezed tightly shut so you don’t have to cogitate or think for yourself. Let your betters do that for you. Let your betters come up with your own conclusions. Keep your index fingers jammed into your ears so you don’t have to hear anything that conflicts with what you are so convinced you know. Meanwhile the rest of us will engage in complex thought, the rest of us will remain true to empiricism and rational thought to engage the complex challenges we face in this lovely world. But, by all means you stay right where you are stunted in ugliness, micrified by your betters who will take good care of your personal sovereignty.
It’s funny that the web was flooded with comments about Binders Full of Women and Binder Burning Protest Parties immediately after the debate…it’s become the main meme from this debate like Big Bird was from the first
Wasn’t Romney a ‘businessman’ before this? He had no female contacts to bring on board?
Heck, even Walker was able to bring in that fabulously-qualified Cathy Stepp.
There is a blog around the interwebs somewhere that I saw last night that said while Mr. Romney was at Bain…there were no woman who where partners in the firm…but I haven’t found it today nor been able to confirm that yet. But it is worth looking into.
This topic is drivel.
Romney was saying that he had a “long list” of qualified women…, etc.
Folks can laugh at his choice of words as a “binder full” is a rather odd/uncommon description for a “long list”, but so what?
All the next day hubbub is drivel.
Dependent Guy:
Your propagandist dismissiveness and the lack of depth in your commentary belies how uninformed you are or how desperately you seek to perpetuate an uncritical culture characterized by simplistic logic. Easier to manipulate, isn’t it? When intelligent querying ceases to occur? Reducing the topic to irrelevance as you have trivializes the matter to the point of just brushing it aside without ever examining the details of the matter – you know the details – wherein the devil dwells?
Choice of words isn’t the matter at hand with the binders. It is the narrative he forged with the binders. At issue is Romney’s intricate mendacity about the binders and how he framed his blatant untruths to make himself appear something other than he actually is. It wasn’t simply the indelicacy of his word choice – it was the elaborate lie he created about his role in recruiting women to his administration in Massachusetts.
So what? The what is the binder story encapsulates Romney’s duplicity intended to veil his devotion to the “Old Boys’ Network.” That network of institutionalized discrimination that has traditionally kept the majority of Americans in servile conditions.
Perhaps think a while on the GOP response that went into emergency damage control mode. If the binder criticism wasn’t potentially damning then certainly the spin masters at the RNC wouldn’t have embraced it so quickly to try to turn it around. If the binders really didn’t have a damaging backstory – if it were truly innocuous and people keep talking about it and learning more about it – well then no real harm done. Let the fools have their day, right? Why on earth would the RNC scuttle like the rats that they are to deflect it and turn it around? Their flipping the meme is just spin, there’s no story behind it. The binders aren’t Obama’s history, the binders are Romney’s insidious history. The GOP doesn’t think “So What?” Neither should you.
PJ’s:
Just calling a spade a spade.
Until there is a law against drivel, you are good to go. Knock yourself out.
Dependent Guy,
If you were calling a spade a spade surely you’d be able to defend your notion of spade. What you are doing is not calling a spade a spade. You are merely bandying about misinformation. It is you who are the driveler. Move along, Happy Cows, move along. Git along little dogies, Nothing to see here little dogies…. whoopie cay yai oh.
These protests are just asinine. It just goes to show that no matter what Romney does, people will pick it apart. The fact that he had more female cabinet members than any other state can not be disputed. Who cares how this can to be, it DID come to be. So, all these people who keep trying to tear him down for a GOOD thing….keep on. There are alot of undecided voters out there and the more the left keeps trying to mire down in nonissues, the more undecided people realize they want no part of it. So thank you for the crazy women protesting in Ohio wearing binders. You just gave Romney a dew more votes.
Christy,
Protests? Maybe you are misguided by media spin that would call the Binder Brigade “protests.” It looks like creative criticism to me. Get your dictionary. Open it to a page roughly between the words “Protean” meaning endlessly changeable (which, incidentally, accurately describes Romney) and “Protomorphic” meaning having a primitive character or structure (ironically, also an accurate description of Romney).
Somewhere between Protean and Protomorphic you will find the word “Protest.” Read the definition. Then if you can be bothered to flip all the way to the front of your dictionary, find the word “asinine” and adjacent to this word you will find a definition aptly describing the entirety of your comment.
The challenge to Romney’s debate assertions are not protests. It’s criticism, responsible verification, and yes – fact checking – an activity you are desperately in need of experimenting with.
Your Ann Romney-esque bemoaning of poor little Mitt being picked apart is utterly nonsensical. Perhaps you are unaware of how things are done in a free and civil society where citizens think for themselves and ponder and question and search for truth and honesty. Romney is a candidate for the highest office of the land. What he does and what he says will be scrutinized by responsible citizens. He is not above legitimate criticism. No candidate is. Your petty wailing would be better served on Obama who has not received the courtesy of legitimate criticism on the part of his opponents or his opponents’ rank and file. Rather, it is Obama who has been nitpicked and unfairly maligned with a juggernaut of vicious and unfounded attacks. If you are so indignant about picking apart politicians, maybe try re-entering reality.
It is not a fact that Romney had more female cabinet members than other states. By the end of his term that number had fallen significantly and he never appointed any women to any high ranking positions. His track record at Bain is substantially worse. If you honestly examine Mitt’s administration you will be hard pressed to describe his approach toward women as a “good thing” unless, of course, you are predisposed to disbelieving anything that might contradict your preconceived impressions of Romney.
As is the Conservative way, you may try casting response to Romney’s debate performance as non-issue, but don’t forget that the question prompting Romney’s response was asked by an audience member who does consider women’s economic issues of vital importance as do most people outside of the Conservative microcosm. The more focus and attention on the issue the more people will realize that Romney is on the regressive side of it.