The Binder is a lie.

[BenBurch]

With apologies to GLADOS;

http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/talkingpolitics/archive/2012/10/16/mind-the-binder.aspx

 

[Olowkow]

"Well, gosh, can't we -- can't we find some -- some women that are also qualified?"

I guess I'm a cynic, but the instant I heard that, I thought, "...since we can get them cheaper than men".

It will be interesting to see if this story gains legs in the media.

 

[Ladewig]

because I had the chance to pull together a cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men.

There is a big difference between

"it seemed that all the applicants were men" and "all the applicants seemed to be men."

 

[varwoche]

I was struck by how long and how incoherently Romney went on about this stupid anecdote, all the while avoiding the actual question.

I'm tempted to view his evasive meandering as a tell, but what's the point when there's a far easier tell at our dispoasal: lips moving.

 

[Olowkow]

There is a big difference between

"it seemed that all the applicants were men" and "all the applicants seemed to be men."

Nice! So true, and "vive la différence!"

 

[Foolmewunz]

I was struck by how long and how incoherently Romney went on about this stupid anecdote, all the while avoiding the actual question.

I'm tempted to view his evasive meandering as a tell, but what's the point when there's a far easier tell at our dispoasal: lips moving.

I think he was rambling because he hadn't prepared for this. He knew the ground but he wasn't rehearsed. And if there's any veracity to his contention, then as I mentioned in the debate thread, he should've just left out the "binder full of women" and getting little Maisie home in time to cook dinner, and just told how he was active in getting more women onto his cabinet, at his own insistence, then any other governor of the time, Democrat or Republican. But he had to go off into dog-on-the-roof land and manage to sound not just stupid but condescending. "Now don't you worry yur purty little head about that. You go home and make dinner for little Timmy and little Hezekiah, hon. Just clean up the coffee cups and we'll take care of this confusing old budget."
(No he said nothing of the kind, but I'm from Atheism Plus and we all know that's how he meant it.)

ETA: On the "applicants seemed to be men".... You should be over here in Thailand trying to fill a cabinet. It's the opposite problem. A lot of applicants appear to be women.

 

[Puppycow]

I was struck by how long and how incoherently Romney went on about this stupid anecdote, all the while avoiding the actual question.

I'm tempted to view his evasive meandering as a tell, but what's the point when there's a far easier tell at our dispoasal: lips moving.

I keep hearing from political analysts in the media that voters like to hear stories with people in them, not dry statistics or facts or anything abstract. I'm sure the advisers tell the candidates the same thing. So they never answer any question without invoking some anecdote involving a person. In the process of telling this story it seems he "forgot" to answer the question asked and instead answered a slightly different question that he wanted to answer.

 

[Tricky]

I'm just shocked that he'd run for governor without having a pretty good idea who he wanted in his cabinet. Is that the way CEOs do things?

Off topic: Ms. Tricky is already planning her Halloween costume. You guessed it. A woman in a binder. Should be fairly easy to make.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Romney sounded very awkward wrt the equal pay issue. When he said (my emphasis), "because I recognized that if you're going to have women in the workforce, that sometimes they need to be more flexible" it made me think he really didn't like the idea of women in the workforce. As if to say, if we must have women working, then we've got to make adjustments for them.

But just putting the idea of women in the workforce as a conditional, as if that part weren't a long since settled issued, sounded really misogynist and backward to me.

 

[Olowkow]

I'm just shocked that he'd run for governor without having a pretty good idea who he wanted in his cabinet. Is that the way CEOs do things?

Off topic: Ms. Tricky is already planning her Halloween costume. You guessed it. A woman in a binder. Should be fairly easy to make.

Excellent! My apologies to the Mrs, but I'm stealing that line.

Romney sounded very awkward wrt the equal pay issue... .

Unless I missed it, and I listened very carefully, he never managed to get around to equal pay, just hiring those pesky women.

 

[GeeMack]

Romney sounded very awkward wrt the equal pay issue. When he said (my emphasis), "because I recognized that if you're going to have women in the workforce, that sometimes they need to be more flexible" it made me think he really didn't like the idea of women in the workforce. As if to say, if we must have women working, then we've got to make adjustments for them.

But just putting the idea of women in the workforce as a conditional, as if that part weren't a long since settled issued, sounded really misogynist and backward to me.

Yes.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Unless I missed it, and I listened very carefully, he never managed to get around to equal pay, just hiring those pesky women.

Next thing you know women will want to drive and--god help us--vote!

 

[Olowkow]

Just a few chuckles.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/17/1145686/-Babes-in-Binders

 

[ravdin]

I just liked your GLADOS reference.

 

[BenBurch]

I just liked your GLADOS reference.

 

[Brainster]

Wait, let me get this straight, this is the lie?

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.

And the truth is:

They did the research and put together the binder full of women qualified for all the different cabinet positions, agency heads, and authorities and commissions. They presented this binder to Governor Romney when he was elected.

So the issue is that Romney didn't have to go out to the women's groups, they came to him?

Wow, yes, I can see this is a crucial issue.

 

[Unabogie]

Wait, let me get this straight, this is the lie?

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.

And the truth is:



So the issue is that Romney didn't have to go out to the women's groups, they came to him?

Wow, yes, I can see this is a crucial issue.

Well, no. The lie is that the women's group went out prior to the election and compiled a list of people to present to whomever won the election. In last night's debate, Mitt said:

And I -- and I went to my staff, and I said, "How come all the people for these jobs are -- are all men." They said, "Well, these are the people that have the qualifications." And I said, "Well, gosh, can't we -- can't we find some -- some women that are also qualified?"

And -- and so we -- we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet.

He made it sound like it was all his idea, and that the binder of women was created at his behest. That's just false. That's just a lie. That's just Mitt Romney.

 

[RandFan]

Well, no. The lie is that the women's group went out prior to the election and compiled a list of people to present to whomever won the election. In last night's debate, Mitt said:

And -- and so we -- we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet.

He made it sound like it was all his idea, and that the binder of women was created at his behest. That's just false. That's just a lie. That's just Mitt Romney.

This ^^^

 

[Tricky]

A slightly better site than the one listed in the OP.

So, here’s how it actually went down: 1) MassGap wanted to address the dearth of women in senior-level positions in state government, so they 2) began looking for people in the summer of 2001, long before 3) getting Romney to commit to appointing an equitable number of women. They then 4) submitted those names (it’s unclear how 100 names would require “binders full of women”) to Romney’s transition team, which then 5) hired some of them.

But he didn't hire that many of them, and not for the more important jobs.

The group also notes that female appointments actually fell off during Romney’s tenure.

So Romney's condescending little anecdote, which wouldn't affect any significant number of women anyway, isn't even true. Much like the majority of what he says.

 

[Unabogie]

This ^^^

It goes further.

Mitt said:

I was proud of the fact that after I staffed my Cabinet and my senior staff, that the University of New York in Albany did a survey of all 50 states, and concluded that mine had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America.

While the reality was:

Secondly, a UMass-Boston study found that the percentage of senior-level appointed positions held by women actually declined throughout the Romney administration, from 30.0% prior to his taking office, to 29.7% in July 2004, to 27.6% near the end of his term in November 2006. (It then began rapidly rising when Deval Patrick took office.)

Again, his whole anecdote was a big lie.