The "binders of women" thing is actually having some legs. Funny how life works out. While I thought the Libya gaffe was devastating, because it reinforced the idea that Romney is a slippery, liar, an aluminum siding salesman, in the end, it might be the "binders of women" line that kills him.
And this is a good exegesis of why.
Most of the polling that showed a narrowing race showed that because Romney's numbers among women improved dramatically after the first debate. Personally, I was surprised at this, because I thought Romney acted like a dick in the first debate, too.
But I missed the point. Romney was acting like a dick to other men - to Lehrer and Obama - and that didn't necessarily resonate with female voters. Having been reasonably sentient over their lives, women have noted that men are dicks to each other frequently. In fact, men are remarkably dickish even to their friends.
But Romney was a dick to Candy Crowley. (In fact, I wish Obama has just once apologized to Crowley when he went over time, or thanked her for her forbearance. That would have been killer.) Romney also, yes, had his "binders of women" moment, which aside from being a rhetorical nightmare, also suggested that Romney - who had NO women working with him in upper positions at Bain - was astonished that - BY GOLLY! - there were a bunch of qualified women out there!
Who knew?!
There was his bizarre non sequitar that single moms lead to gun violence. I guess that line might have worked better in the '90s, but Jared Lochner and James Holmes both came from stable two parents homes. They were just, you know, mentally ill and allowed to buy weapons.
As the New Republic article notes, Romney is that obnoxious boss who talks over his female workers and bullies them into shutting up.
But I've been wrong before and we'll know by the weekend if the race has been re-shaped by this.
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