Binders-deal or no deal

[Ziggy]

Haven't seen much on here about the "binders full of women" comment but have seen it a lot elsewhere so thought it would be interesting to see what people think. I remember him saying it, but really didn't put much thought into it, but apparently it blew up in parody over night.

[huskerXman]

I would comment but I still don't know what was said. What was his full comment?

[carlfense]

Meh. Poorly phrased by Romney but I don't think it means too much. The meme is pretty funny though. (For example: If you like it then you shoulda put three rings on it.)

 

My wife was more upset by his comments about women needing to get home to cook supper.

[knapplc]

It would have played well on Mad Men. It was a comment better suited to a different time. Basically, though, it was Romney saying he was encouraging the inclusion of women in his administration, but he said it in a typically ham-handed way.

[knapplc]

I wonder if the GOP are going to suggest to Romney that he start using a teleprompter? He's made about 100 gaffes like this in the past few months alone.

 

It's worth a try.

[carlfense]

I wonder if the GOP are going to suggest to Romney that he start using a teleprompter?

I'm more concerned about where Obama's teleprompter was hidden during the second debate.

 

How could Obama see it but we couldn't?

[Ziggy]

Personally, when I heard the whole response, I was thinking it was going to be a huge hit with women. But alas I am not a woman and don't really hear things the way women do. I agree in hind sight he could have worded it better, but really during his term as Governor his record on having women in his cabinet was pretty good. As to the women being home in time to make dinner, I don't know why a woman would have a problem with having a flexible schedule to be able to do what she wants to do with her family. I personally enjoy cooking, and if able I would spend hours in the kitchen.

[carlfense]

Personally, when I heard the whole response, I was thinking it was going to be a huge hit with women. But alas I am not a woman and don't really hear things the way women do. I agree in hind sight he could have worded it better, but really during his term as Governor his record on having women in his cabinet was pretty good.

I didn't think that it would be a huge hit . . . in fact I thought that the broader implications of his not knowing any qualified women without going to women's groups sounded pretty bad. But the binders remark is just a funny non-issue.

 

As to the women being home in time to make dinner, I don't know why a woman would have a problem with having a flexible schedule to be able to do what she wants to do with her family. I personally enjoy cooking, and if able I would spend hours in the kitchen.

I too enjoy cooking and I cook at least 50% fo the time. I don't think that's the issue.

 

When Romney was talking specifically about women he talked about them needing to have flexible hours to cook/care for children. (Paraphrasing from memory, might not be exact.) Isn't that equally true for both men and women? Implying otherwise is (like knapplc said) probably from a different time.

[Ziggy]

The way I heard it was this specific woman asked for flexible hours to be home with the kids, and make dinner for the family, not a generalization that all women need or want that.

You expect a non politician who just got done running the Olympics after running a company, to know women who are qualified to run a state governments cabinet. I think it shows leadership to go out of his way to find qualified women to fill positions in his cabinet, in fact his cabinet had the highest male female ratio in the country during his administration. I think it was 11 men to 11 women. That pretty good for a guy who wants to sent women back to the kitchen. (last statement not directed at you)

 

Sorry for using cabinet so much, but I wanted to refrain from the word "staff". Didn't sound right talking about his staff and women.

[sd'sker]

it was a lie as well. first, it was just oddly worded. second, it proves that romney supports affirmative action. third, women's groups barraged him with those 'binders full of women'. he made it sound like he went out searching for women candidates, but they came to him.

 

How Mitt Romney had ‘whole binders of women’ for staff positions as governor

 

Those “binders full of women” actually came from a coalition called Massachusetts Government Appointments Project, or MassGAP, that had formed in August 2002 to address the shortage of women in high-ranking government positions. They had started assembling groups of applicants, taking several months to reach out to women’s organizations around the state and preparing to present potential hires to whichever candidate won the election.

Midway through his four-year term, 42 percent of his 33 new appointments were women, according to a study done by the UMass Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy using some of the data collected by MassGAP.

But over the next two years, women made up only 25 percent of the 64 new appointments Romney made. By the end of his term, the number of women in high-ranking positions was slightly lower than it was before Romney took office.

[BigRedBuster]

So, let me get this straight.

 

He looked at all the applicants and there weren't any women. So, he went to women's organizations and asked them for help and they provided aplicants.

 

This is a bad thing?

 

Wow.....the Dems are really stretching lately. In one week we have Romney admitting that he made an effort to hire women and also Ryan visited a soup kitchen.

 

How dare they think they can be in the Whitehouse?

[VectorVictor]

It would have played well on Mad Men. It was a comment better suited to a different time. Basically, though, it was Romney saying he was encouraging the inclusion of women in his administration, but he said it in a typically ham-handed way.

 

I think it was Sarah Silverman that (paraphrased) said Romney would be a progressive...if this were 1960.

 

I'm just waiting for the natural link between the binder comment and Mormonism to occur.

[sd'sker]

So, let me get this straight.

 

He looked at all the applicants and there weren't any women. So, he went to women's organizations and asked them for help and they provided aplicants.

 

This is a bad thing?

 

Wow.....the Dems are really stretching lately. In one week we have Romney admitting that he made an effort to hire women and also Ryan visited a soup kitchen.

 

How dare they think they can be in the Whitehouse?

read my post directly above yours.

[BigRedBuster]

So, he went looking for women to hire and that is a bad thing?

[carlfense]

You expect a non politician who just got done running the Olympics after running a company, to know women who are qualified to run a state governments cabinet.

In a word, yes. I would think that his wide business experience would expose him to many qualified women. (Probably not within his own company if I'm remembering correctly.)

 

I think it shows leadership to go out of his way to find qualified women to fill positions in his cabinet, in fact his cabinet had the highest male female ratio in the country during his administration. I think it was 11 men to 11 women. That pretty good for a guy who wants to sent women back to the kitchen. (last statement not directed at you)

I agree. It's very commendable that he sought women out. In fact . . . it's almost like he took affirmative action to ensure that qualified women were included.