No Muppets necessary this time—Mitt Romney created his own pop-culture phenomenon from scratch during his second debate with President Barack Obama.
The Republican presidential candidate set the Internet ablaze with his reference to "binders full of women," made while talking about his concern for the initial lack of female job applicants for his staff back when he was governor of Massachusetts.
"We took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet," Romney said. "I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Could you help us find folks?' And they brought us whole binders full of women."
And to think, those binders now have their own Twitter account, Facebook page and—this is the grooviest one of all—a Tumblr page for the meme. Here are five of our faves:
1. Say Anything: If Lloyd Dobler had stood outside Diane Court's window with a bunch of binders instead of that boom box...well, the movie would have ended happily right then, now wouldn't it?!
2. Lord of the Rings: Boromir knows how to treat a lady.
3. How I Met Your Mother: Actually, we're surprised this wasn't a Barney Stinson thing already.
4. Always Use Protection: The Tumblr caption reads, "Protect and Organize Your Women!" Just think, if Bain Capital hadn't helped out Staples back in the day, where would we have purchased all of our protective sleeves?!
5. Hef's Little Black Binders: Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's binders are probably all leather-bound and smell of cigar smoke and claret.