‘Binders full of women’ goes viral

Mitt Romney became responsible for a new meme Tuesday night when he said he received “binders full of women” qualified for positions in his Massachusetts cabinet.

Romney made the inadvertently funny remark in response to a question about the glass ceiling and how he would ensure women can earn the pay and positions of men at work. 

Romney said that as governor of Massachusetts, he had mounted a “concerted effort” to bring women into his administration. He described how at one point, he elicited help from women’s groups that soon brought him “whole binders full of women” job candidates.

{mosads}The phrase quickly began trending on Twitter Tuesday night and gained steam with parody Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Most of the viral response poked quiet fun at Romney over the remark.

“No one puts Baby in a binder,” read one response on Tumblr, quoting the late Patrick Swayze’s famous line from the 1987 movie “Dirty Dancing.”

Another Tumblr post featured a mock exchange between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Obama in which Clinton asks, “Where’s my binder?” “You’re flying on it,” Obama replies.

A more pointed response came from left-leaning super-PAC American Bridge, which slammed Romney for appointing mostly white men as judges while governor.

American Bridge also announced that it purchased the Web property BindersFullofWomen.com, promising to use the site to “educate voters on Romney’s real record on issues important to women.”

On Tuesday, Romney said his presidency would be good for women economically. He also touted his support for family-friendly work policies.

“I recognized [in Massachusetts] that if you’re going to have women in the workforce that sometimes you need to be more flexible,” he said.

The highest-ranking woman in Romney’s Cabinet was his second-in-command, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey.