'Binders full of women' a hit at presidential debate
Sparks flew in Tuesday night's town-hall-style presidential debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney, based on the reactions of Twitter users, who accused each candidate of being rude or interrupting moderator and CNN news anchor Candy Crowley one or more times too many.
The 90-minute debate at Hofstra University in Hemptstead, N.Y., seemed chock-full of one liners, swagger and lots of interruptions from the candidates, and Twitter users had opinions. Twitter reports that tweets related to the debate numbered 7.2 million.
"Were you surprised at Romney's bullying, aggressive,
disrespectful behavior?" tweeted The DailyEdge, @TheDailyEdge, the Twitter handle of Burke-Hart Publishing.
Steve Doocy, @sdoocy, Fox News Channel host, tweeted: "Townhall
#debate format a DISASTER! Candidates in each others faces and spaces. Look for #WWE to adopt format for cage matches," referring to World Wrestling Entertainment.
Tegan and Sara, @teganandsara, a sisters' guitar-playing duo out of of Vancouver and Montreal, tweeted: "Intense. A few of the heated moments reminded me of when Sara and I would try to argue loudest in front of my mom to see who'd win."
The public didn't seem to latch onto one issue -- as in Vice President Biden's frequent smiles and laughs during the vice presidential debate or the mention of Big Bird during the first presidential debate -- but Romney's comment about asking women's groups for potential Cabinet candidates when he was governor of Massachusetts, and how he received "whole binders full of women," generated some waves in social media land.
#BindersFullofWomen became a trending topic on Twitter, with a parade of Twitter users making fun of the comment. Also trending was #binders. The Twitter account @Romney'sbinder attracted more than 4,500 followers.
Gabby Wong, @WhatWent_Wong, and actor and writer in London, tweeted, "Romney 'I just met you and this is crazy but would you like to be in my binder?' "
Tyler Bleszinski of Orange Calif., @papiblez, founder of the SB Nation sports network, tweeted: "Who knew that Romney was such a ladies man? It's the Rom and the Fonz. Two peas in a pod. #bindersfullofwomen."
Several Facebook pages cropped up titled "Binders full of women." One, featuring a profile photo of Romney giving a thumbs up sign and a cover photo of binders, had generated almost 138,000 "likes" shortly before midnight.
Twitter users reacted emotionally to discussions of equal pay for women, Libya, and U.S. jobs being sent to China, but many Twitter users did not express one prevailing opinion, as they had in the other contests.
Jenny Johnson, @JennyJohnsonHi5, tweeted, "I haven't felt this unsatisfied since I watched 'The Village.' " she said, referring to the M. Night Shyamalan movie with a surprise -- but sometimes criticized -- ending.
Darth Stateworker, @DarthStateworkr, a self-described liberal Democrat in New York, tweeted: "Calling the debate another tie. No real knockout blows by either candidate."
Contributing: Desair Brown, USA TODAY