Romney's "Binders Full Of Women" Are Trending Post-Debate

Within minutes after Mitt Romney said it during last night's debae, Twitter and Facebook lit up with the phrase "Binder Full of Women".  He was referring to an initiative he claims to have started in Massachusetts to hire women but his unfortunate phrasing turned it into an instant meme and, essentially, the "Big Bird" moment of this debate as far as the Internet was concerned.  By midnight, less than two hours after the debate ended, there was an active Tumblr dedicated to the meme which is where I found the above photo (which made me chuckle).

All joking aside though, the claim Romney made during the debate last night is not exactly true. The now infamous binder was part of a larger initiative to get women more involved in government and it was prepared in 2002, before anyone knew who the incoming governor would be. Romney was essentially handed the binder when he took office.  What is it about this candidate and his propensity for half-truths designed to make him look better? In the end, and after some simple Internet fact-checking, they really end up just make him look desperate to win....at any cost.

SESAME STREET Tries To Get Out Of Presidential Politics

The biggest surprise of the general election has been the emergence of Big Bird and public television as a major issue.  Who would have guessed that, after Romney's winning the debate, the biggest take away would be his comments about the bird?! Though it all sounds silly on the surface, it really isn't and I think it's great that people are finally being enlightened to the ridiculous notion (one Republicans have harbored for years) that cutting things like federal support for PBS (and the arts in general) will somehow take a dent out of the deficit.  Of course, the percentage of these programs as part of the budget is less than 1/10th of 1 percent and now, with Romney's infamous line, hopefully the voting public has been educated about this issue.

However, on the flip side, the folks at SESAME STREET are somewhat queasy about being drawn into the battle between Romney and Obama.  They reluctantly OK'd a Big Bird appearance on SNL with some revisions to the script that made the spot more funny than political.  But, after the Obama campaign released an ad with Big Bird, the folks at the Children Television's Workshop said enough is enough and today asked that the ad be removed from circulation. The ad itself is sort of a riot but it's also understandable that CTW does not want to be in the fray of the election. But they are in it now.... whether they like it or not.

God Bless America....Now If You Can Just Spell It

The Republican campaign for the nomination may be over with Romney hitting the magic number of delegates last week. But the campaign's endless silly season continues with this latest gaffe; a misspelling of the word "AMERICA" on Mitt Romney's iPhone app.  This appeared last week as "AMERCIA" and was quickly corrected.  Yet since then, there have been two other spelling errors on the campaign's website--"sneak-peak" and "2012 Offical Gear".  

There was a funny item on New York magazines' website today speculating whether the mistakes were intentional, as a way of generating press due to increased attention from Internet grammar nerds. LoL. A novel strategy, sure, but one that certainly has worked!  But, as it turns out, the problem for the Romney campaign is real.  They have actually posted an online ad for a copy writer/editor. 

Etch-A-Sketch Is Trending & Its Stock Rising

After an off-hand comment by a Romney campaign operative, Etch A Sketch is trending this week.

In yet another random sidebar of the Republican presidential race (which has played like one random sidebar after another) Etch A Sketch is now being talked about by the remaining candidates for the Repblican nomination.  The reference was to shaking the Romney campaign like an Etch A Sketch at the end of the primary race, and recalibrating Romney to be more conservative for the general election.

Whatever the meaning, it's done wonders for a toy that most people probably thought had gone the way of the Rubik's cube.  But no, Etch A Sketch lives and its stock yesterday doubled in price on Wall Street as reported on the WALL STREET JOURNAL's blog. So maybe Romney will inadvertently create some jobs as demand for the long-forgotten toy ramps up as the Republican primaries heat up.