The unbound thanks Mitt Romney

[wendymr]

Yes, you read that right. I haven't posted anything non-fic for quite some time, but I have to post today to thank - yes, thank - Mitt Romney for providing me with more hilarity than I've had for a very long time. He might not have intended it, but his patronising, condescending (and credit-grabbing, lying) assertion about binders full of women in

Comments

[rhia_starsong]

God, this man is such an embarrassment for my country; that would be why I'm working for his opponent. ION, he really should just never talk about women again, as it's clear he has no clue about anything to do with us. None. What's truly embarrassing is that this election is so close. Ugh. But, yes, the Romney/Ryan ticket is at least highly amusing.

[lorelaisquared]

It's not even my election but I've been howling over this. Some of the gifs on tumblr are downright hysterical and those Amazon reviews. LOL. The internet is getting a lot of milage out of that one quote. I really hope that his ignorant statements about women will make women who were planning to vote for him think twice. Seriously, I fear for the world if he takes power.

[rhia_starsong]

The sad thing is, polls show that women still would vote for the idiot. I do not understand this. Of course, polls are never great indicators for large groups, but still. I, too, fear for the world if this moron represents my country.

[annissag]

While I find the meme that sprang from this really entertaining, I was actually disturbed by the little story that preceded the "binder" statement as I felt it was indicative of the problem that many women face when looking for high-level positions: we just aren't considered. The picture Romney paints is that it takes a pro-active, altruistic, high-level executive knocking on every door to find qualified women to fill cabinet positions. And that's clearly b.s., even without the follow-up that shows that Romney's story didn't actually happen and that it was a women's advocacy group that compiled the binder full of qualified women. AND THEN he STILL sucked at hiring women!

Jezebel has a fun article and they include a Doctor Who .gif, so I'm linking. ;)
http://jezebel.com/5952600/despite-bulging-binders-mitt-romney-was-awful-at-hiring-women-as-massachusetts-governor

[wendymr]

Oh, I agree that the situation itself - the shortage of women in senior positions, the gender pay gap, the blinkeredness of men like Romney and others when it comes to noticing the absence of women in senior positions, and the suggestion that getting women appointees in this day and age still takes a process very like affirmative action/positive discrimination rather than just, you know, interviewing and hiring those highly qualified women who are already in your orbit and applying for those positions - is disgraceful. Romney should be ashamed of himself for telling that story, even without the lie which makes it even worse.

However, why I really love the satire is that it's called so much more attention to inequality and the condescending way people like Romney speak about women, and it's done it in a way that is getting the far more serious points across. The mainstream media is picking up on it, linking to the satire and getting why it's important. For the second day running, one of the main headline stories on CNN.com, with photo

[terendel]

Priceless .gif!

[terendel]

OMG! Thank you for sharing. Especially the Amazon reviews. They are hilarious and on point. This is the only social media platform where I can share my political views (my clients don't know about lj), and it's so nice to see and be able to comment on this.

Romney just really, really, really bothers me, and I cheer every time he goofs like this. Please, let people listen and pay attention!