'Binders' Meme Moves to Amazon.com
The viral campaign launched by Mitt Romney's line about "binders full of women" at the second presidential debate Tuesday night has moved into new territory: Amazon. com's customer review page.
In the place where shoppers would ordinarily offer their opinions on an Avery Durable View Binder, they have instead used the space to poke fun at the Republican candidate.
"I don't want to be filed away in an inferior and confusing electronic doohickey that I couldn't possibly understand. Or heaven forbid, have a man ask for and listen to my ideas!" wrote a commenter named " Bazinga ." "I'd much rather rely on this top-of-the-line, 1980s style Avery Durable binder. It's the choice America can trust."
While "Bazinga" gave the binder five stars, another reviewer was less impressed.
"Maybe it's just my women, but they don't seem to want to fit into the space I've designated for them in this binder. They keep sticking out over the edges, even getting away in some cases," wrote "Sabriel ." "I thought using clear, glass-ceiling page protectors would help, but it doesn't seem to slow them down anymore."
The comments were spurred by Romney's explanation of how he tried to recruit women for his cabinet when he was governor of Massachusetts.
Read the full debate transcript.
"I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks,' and they brought us whole binders full of women," Romney said, in response to a question about pay discrepancies between men and women. The line sparked a slew of social media accounts under the name "Binders Full of Women."
Many of the comments on the Amazon page referred to the accommodations Romney said he provided to his then-chief-of-staff, a mother of two school-age children.
The woman Romney was referring to was Beth Myers. Myers led the search for Romney's vice presidential pick and continues to serve as one of Romney's senior campaign advisers.
"She said, 'I can't be here until 7 or 8 at night. I need to be able to get home at 5 so I can be there for making dinner for my kids and being with them when they get home from school. 'So we said, 'fine, let's have a flexible schedule so you can have hours that work for you,'" Romney told the debate audience Tuesday.
"As a woman, I was disappointed that the 'gap-free' claim was in reference to the rings in the binder, not to gender equity in wages. But the trade-off is that the binder did let me leave work in time to go home and cook dinner," Monica Miller commented .
Wednesday Massachusetts residents challenged Romney's claim that he'd made strong efforts to recruit women for his gubernatorial cabinet ( read more on that from ABC's Abby Phillip here).
Democrats believe the binder hubbub will hurt Romney's chances in the election, but on "Good Morning America" today, GOP strategist Nicolle Wallace disagreed. Watch her commentary here .