Move aside Big Bird. The newest meme to come out of presidential debates is “binders full of women.”
After being asked what he has done for women in the workplace in Tuesday's debate, Mitt Romney said that while governor of Massachusetts he sought out women to fill key positions. His staff, he said, brought him “whole binders full of women.” Cue the Internet firestorm.
Within minutes, sites with the “Binders Full of Women” comment swept the Web. A Facebook page already has 220,000 likes and a Twitter account has nearly 6,000 followers. A Tumblr site has dozens of photos, with popular references to Beyoncé, the movie Say Anything, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“Binders full of women” was the third most searched phrase on Google, behind “who is winning the debate” and “live debate,” according to the search engine.
There’s also a website. A search of whois.net, a finder that identifies website owners, shows that the owner of bindersfullofwomen.com is Bradley Beychok, the campaign director for American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal super PAC. The site is now being used to critique Romney on women’s issues.
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