Mitt Romney in a suit

Mitt Romney

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Updated Sep 10, 2020 at 01:48PM EDT by andcallmeshirley.

Added Jan 04, 2012 at 12:58PM EST by Don.

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About

Mitt Romney (born March 12th, 1947) is an American politician, former Governor of Massachusetts and the 2012 U.S. presidential candidate for the Republican party. Since the beginning of primary elections in January, Romney quickly emerged as the frontrunner in the race and officially won the party's nomination at the Republican National Convention in September 2012. He was defeated by Barack Obama in the presidential election in November of 2012.

Online History

MittRomney.com[1] was registered on February 8th, 2002, the same year he presided over the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002. Romney joined Twitter[2] on June 23rd, 2009 and gained over 360,000 followers in less than three years. His personal Facebook[3] page had more than 1.4 million likes in February 2012.

2008 Republican Presidential Primary

On February 13th, 2007, Romney formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president in 2008. His website was relaunched with a new design and several new sections, including the video gallery MittTV, merchandise store MittGear and Romney's sons' blog Five Brothers. On February 7th, 2008, two days after John McCain posted strong gains in the Super Tuesday primaries, Romney announced the end of his campaign and endorsed McCain.


Go MITT ROMNEY Go TRUE STRENGTH FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE Home Join Team Mitt En Español LEARN ABOUT MITT FIVE BROTHERS NEWS SSUES Contribute Welcome, Guest! Sign up for Team Mitt Action Center and join our Social Network TEAM MITT To recelve email updates fronm Governor Romney and get connected with the campaign, sign up now Dashboard Friends Fundraising Events Profile Groups Downloads Invite Friends Fundraiser Tools Get Mitt Gear MITTWIRE UPCOMING EVENTS MITT TV IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY ON SUPER TUESDAY The signs are good that conservatives are listening and saying, You know what, we don't want to take the liberal path. More » !GET TO KNOW MITT AnnRomney.com Get an insider's perspective into Ann's time on the campaign trail, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY ON THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY the Romney family and Ann's causes if we want a party that is indistinguishable from Hillary Clinton on an issue like illegal immigration, that we're going to have John McCain as a nominee ..." Loading Player Change Begins With Us" Mitt talks directly about his belief that change in Washington begins with his fellow Republicans putting their house in order 02.03.2008 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: FORMER SENATOR RICK SANTORUM (R-PA) ENDORSES MITT ROMNEY "if you're a Republican, if you're a Republican in the broadest sense, there is only one place to go right now and that's Mitt Romney." More ” PHOTO ALBUMs 02.01.2008 More Stories Governor Mitt Romney 02.03.2008    Mitt Market MITTMARKET Do you have items lying around that you don't use? From bicycles that the kids have outgrown to old electronics or baseball cards, your stuff may be someone else's treasure. Now, you can sell these items with little hassle and the added benefit of supporting Governor Mitt Romney. Romney for President has teamed up with auctionPAL Inc. to provide an innovative way for you to make a real difference in electing our next president. By selling your items through auctionPAL, you have another method of contributing to the campaign beyond check or credit card. Note: federal election limits apply Gather your goods and get started today! SELL

2012 Republican Presidential Primary

For more information, read the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary entry.

On June 2nd, 2011, Romney announced that he would seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Romney was able to raise more than any other Republican candidate with $56 million in 2011. For a front-runner candidate, Romney's poll numbers remained relatively low with only 25% of prospective GOP voters in October of 2011. Romney came in second in the initial 2012 Iowa caucuses on January 3rd, 2012, with only 34 votes behind winner Rick Santorum. The following week, Romney won the New Hampshire primary pulling in 39% of the vote. Romney came in second to New Gingrich in the January 21st South Carolina primary but went on to beat Gingrich in the January 31st Florida primary. During the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses on March 6th, Romney won six of the ten primaries.


GOP Delegate Count 1144 to win the nominationn Associated Press projections 1522E Romney 255國Santorum 158 Paul 138 158Ron 138Newt ngrich Santorunm Gingrich Calgary rio Quebec ncouver ashingtorn North Dakota New nswick Montana inn Nova Scotia Ottawa oO Portland Maine South Dakota Wiscon Toronto Oregon IC Vermont Wyoming New York New Hampshire lowa Nebraska linois ennsylvani Massachusetts Ohio N York NevadaUtah dian Rhode Island Colorado est Kansas Missouri Connecticut aliforni Kentucky New Jersey rginia North Carolina Tennessee Delaware Los geles Oklahoma Arkansas Arizona Maryland New South District of Columbia Dallas PhoenixMexico San Diego labam Texas Georgia ouis Houston an Hawaii Gulf of Mexico AP Alaska Havana Map data ©2012 Google, INEGI, MapLink, Tele Atlas . Terms of Use

@MittRomney's Followers Skyrocket

On July 21st, 2012, election-related social media analysis site 140Elect[35] published an article highlighting an unusual spike in Mitt Romney's Twitter followership, which soared from the average daily gain of 3,000 to 4,000 new followers to well over 90,000 followers per day since July 20th. Although the article didn't explicitly accuse Romney's campaign of tempering with Twitter followers, the provided data suggested that there may have been some sort of foul play involved. As shown in the chart below, it appears there has been little correlation between the spike in the number of @MittRomney's followers over the weekend and the total number of mentions and retweets from the same account. In addition, the media criticism blog Mediate[38] pointed out that many of @MittRomney's new Twitter followers had no tweets or followers, or others had posted "unintelligble or in another language."




The article was reblogged by the Daily Dot[37] and BuzzFeed[36] with headlines noting that Romney is being accused of "buying out Twitter followers." Soon, political blogs from both end of the spectrum, including The Daily Edge, Top Conservative Cat and 2012Twit, began exchanging tweets addressing the accusation, spawning more than 6,000 tweets with the hashtag #MoreFakeMitt in less than 24 hours, according to Topsy's report. Meanwhile, Romney's campaign digital director Zac Moffatt rejected accusations that the campaign has been buying followers for Romney, adding that they have reached out to Twitter to further investigate the rapid growth in the Republican candidate's followership.

Tax Return Theft Allegations

On September 2nd, 2012, an anonymous group of hackers posted a bulletin announcement titled "Romney 1040 Collection" via Pastebin[49], in which it claimed to have obtained copies of the Republican presidential candidate's 1040 tax returns after breaking and entering the Tennessee office of PricewaterhouseCooper, the accounting firm that has been handling Romney's tax returns, on August 25th. The group also asserted that flash drives containing encrypted copies of Romney's 1040 files had been sent to the Republican and Democratic campaign offices and threatened to publicly release the encryption key on September 28th, unless Romney's campaign paid the ransom of $1 million in Bitcoins, an online currency that has been known to be difficult to trace.


PWC Office @ 830 Crescent Centre Drive, Suite 260, Franklin, TN 37067 Telephone: [11 (615) 503-2860 Romney's 1040 tax returns were taken from the PWC office 8/25/2012 by gaining access to the third floor via a gentleman working on the 3rd floor of the building. Once on the 3rd floor, the team moved down the stairs to the 2nd floor and setup shop in an empty office room. During the night, suite 260 was entered, and all available 1040 tax forms for Romney were copied. A package was sent to the PWC on suite 260 with a flash drive containing a copy of the 1040 files, plus copies were sent to the Democratic office in the county and copies were sent to the GOP office in the county at the beginning of the week also containing flash drives with copies of Romney's tax returns before 2010. A scanned signature image for Mitt Romney from the 1040 forms were scanned and included with the packages, taken from earlier 1040 tax forms gathered and stored on the flash drives.

On September 4th, another post titled "Dear PricewaterhouseCooper LLP" surfaced on Pastebin[50] with a transcript of a ransom e-mail letter that was apparently sent to the London-based accounting firm. In addition to the detailed instruction of how to stop Romney's tax records from getting exposed, the e-mail also asserted that other interested parties are welcome to compete against the firm and provided a separate Bitcoin address for those who want the documents to be released with a payment of $1 million.


For those that DO want the documents released will have an different address to send to. If $1,000,000 USD is sent to this account below first; then the encryption keys will be made available to the world right away. So this is an equal opportunity for the documents to remain locked away forever or to be exposed before the September 28 deadline.

Who-ever is the winner does not matter to us.

Bitcoin Address to Promote Full Release:
12AP6iCwRNFQqKLStH3A4b4hw3SL6RaNgB


On September 5th, the U.S. Secret Service revealed that it began investigating the alleged theft of Romney's pre-2010 federal tax records, which have become a key focus of attack points against the candidate during the 2012 Republican presidential race. Along with the Pastebin communique, the news of the investigation was quickly picked up by the Associated Press and featured on a wide range of tech news, internet gossip and political blogs, from Gawker[43], The Verge[44] and The Daily Dot[45] to Politico[46], Washington Post[47] and The Huffington Post[48] among others.


Department of the Treasury-Internal Revenu service U.S. Individual Income Tax Return U IRS Use Only -Do not write or staple in this space 2007, ending 20 For the year Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2007, or other tax year beginning Your first name and initial OMB No. 1545-0074 Label See Last name Your social security number B If a joint return, spouse's first name and initial Last name joint Spouse's social security number on page 12.) B Use the IRS label Otherwise, please print or type Presidential Election Campaign rame adaress numbor and street). If you have a P.O. box, see page 12 Apt. no. You must enter your SSN(s) above E ity town or cast office, state, and ZiP code. If dress, see page 12 Checking a box below will not change your tax or refund Check here if you, or your pouse if 1 □ Single 2 3凵Married filing separately. Enter spo(.') to this fund (see page 12) You □ Spouse Head of household (with qualifying person). (See page 13) n the qualifying person is a child but not your dependent, enter this child's name here. Qualifying widow(er) with dependent child (see page 14) Filing Status Married filing jointly (even if only Check only one box and full name here. 5 6a Yourself. If someone can claim you as enit, do not check box 6a on 6a and Exemptions b Spouse c Dependents: (1) First name No. of children 6c who: (3) Dependent's (4)V if qualifying o relationship to child for child tax lived with you humber Last name credit (see page 15) did not live with If more than four dependents, see page 15. you due to divorce or separation (see page 16) Dependents on 6c not entered above Add numbers on d Total number of exemptions claimed 7 Wages, salaries, tips, etc. Attach For 8a Taxable interest. Attach Schedule B re b Tax-exempt interest. Do not include on line 8a 9a Ordinary dividends. Attach Schedule B if required . . lines above 7 Income 8a 8b Attach Form(s) W-2 here. Also ···

On September 21st, Mitt Romney released his tax returns for 2011 in an effort to quell the lasting controversies surrounding his personal financial records. The hundreds of pages of documents revealed that the candidate paid $1.9 million in taxes on $13.69 million in income, mostly from his investments, or 14.1 percent of his income.

47% Remark Controversy

On September 17th, MotherJones[50] released a hidden camera tape of Mitt Romney speaking at a private fundraiser in Florida earlier in May. When asked what his strategy was to win the presidential election, Romney answered by saying that he will focus on earning the trust of taxpaying Americans rather than convincing the 47 percent of the people "who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them."



"And so my job is not to worry about those people--I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. What I have to do is convince the 5 to 10 percent in the center that are independents that are thoughtful, that look at voting one way or the other depending upon in some cases emotion, whether they like the guy or not, what it looks like."

The following day, a single topic Tumblr titled We Are the 47 Percent[51] was created as a parody of the We Are the 99 Percent blog, featuring photos of people holding up paper signs playing up Romney's depiction of whiny freeloaders. Meanwhile on Democratic Underground, forum user Mr. Scorpio shared his satirical commentaries on Romney's stance on the so-called 47% in a post titled "Fuck You, Mitt."[68] Romney's official response to the leak of the camera tape was that it was "not elegantly stated"[52] but did not deny his statements.


The problem with America is that 47% of Americans pay no income tax and take no personal responsibility in their lives Were an American familyIving in poverty.We both work but between us we dont make enough oney to qualify forincome taxes. But we still pay state income taxes,sales taxes, property taxes, payroll taxes, local taxes, etc, etc. F--- you, Mitt. The problem with America is that 47% of Americans pay no income tax and take no personal responsibility in their lives My combat pay is not taxable That's the perklget in exchange for spending my days dodging bullets. F--- you, Mitt. The problem with America is that 47% of Americans pay no income tax and take no personal responsibility in their lives mateenagerworkafter school making S7:25 an hour.Imake less inayearthanyou doinaday, CTIbeable tovotein thenext election. F--- you, Mitt.

"Completely Wrong" in Google Images

On October 5th, Mitt Romney backtracked on his own 47% remark as "completely wrong" during an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity. In the following days, the presidential candidate's retraction was covered by news publications and election-related news blogs[69][70], which led to a sudden upsurge in the volume of Mitt Romney's images associated with the keyphrase "completely wrong" (shown below).


Google completely wrong Q, Search About 325,000,000 results (0.29 seconds) Web Images Maps Videos News 5 days ag0 4 days ago 4 days ag0 4 days ago Ermahgerd More erp- Flerps Any time Past 24 hours S days ag days go 5 days ago 5 day

The ripple effect of Romney's retraction in Google Images was initially reported as early as on October 9th and shortly after that, screenshots of image search results pages for "completely wrong" began to circulate on Twitter[71] and Tumblr.[72] On Facebook, Romney's detractors even urged others to go to Google Image Search and type in the phrase to reinforce the association (shown below).


Just for fun! 1. Go to Google Images 2. Type 'completely wrong' 3. Laugh! facebook.com/TheBad.Ugly.Irrelevant

By October 10th, "completely wrong" had shot up to the third most searched phrase on Google's Hot Trends list and Mitt Romney's SEO debacle was inevitably looped back into the election coverage in the news media. While some readers speculated the possibility of a Google bombing campaign behind the phenomenon, a spokesperson for Google later confirmed with ABC News[70] that it was a "natural search result."

Obama Mentions #Romnesia

During a campaign rally stop in Virginia on October 19th, 2012, President Obama criticized his opponent candidate Mitt Romney's inconsistent policy stances by using the term "Romnesia," a portmanteau of the Republican presidential candidate's last name and amnesia, a medical condition in which one's memory is lost either partially or in its entirety.



"He’s forgetting what his own positions are, and he’s betting that you will, too. I mean, he’s changing up so much and backtracking and sidestepping – we’ve got to name this condition that he’s going through. I think it’s called 'Romnesia'. That’s what it’s called. If you come down with a case of Romnesia, and you can’t seem to remember the policies that are still on your website, or the promises you’ve made over the six years you’ve been running for President, here's the good news: Obamacare covers pre-existing conditions."

Shortly after President Obama's mention of the word, the paraphrased version of his quote appeared via his official Twitter account. Within the first 72 hours, the tweet has received more than 8,800 tweets and nearly 950 favorites.




The term is believed to have been coined by blogger Brian Rosman, who wrote a blog post titled "Romnesia" for the Health Care for All Massachusetts website on April 4th, 2011. On Twitter, the term began to pick up momentum following @BreakingNuts' introduction of the hashtag #Romnesia on March 23rd, 2012. It has been also used in the news media on multiple occasions, including a New York Times editorial titled "The Amnesia Candidate" from April 2012 and a Mother Jones article titled "A Case of Romnesia" in June 2012. The first Urban Dictionary definition of "Romnesia" surfaced on July 19th, 2012, which was later chosen as the Word of the Day on October 20th, the day after its mention during President Obama's rally speech in virginia.


Romnesia [rom-nee-zhuh] Noun 1. When a politician can't remember what he said earlier in the day. See also: Outright liar, panderer... "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country." 1994 "I do not wish to be labeled pro-choice." 2001 "I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose." 2002 2007 "We should overturn Roe v. Wade." "I will advocate for and support a Pain- Capable Unborn Child Protection Act." 2011 Yesterday "There's no legislation with regards to abortion that moming I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda." Yesterday "Mitt Romney is proudly pro-life, and he will be aftemoon a pro-life president." Facebook.com/Bill.Allyn.7 Rom ne sia: A condition affecting Mitt Romney. Symptoms: Conveniently forgetting your severely conservative positions, including banning all abortions and defunding Planned Parenthood. Treatment: Don't worry-Obamacare covers pre-existing conditions like Romnesia.

Disappearing Romney

On election day, Mitt Romney’s Facebook fan page reached an all-time high of 12,135,972 likes by 11:30pm EST.[73] However, following Romney's concession speech, the page lost more than 50,000 likes over the span of hours on November 10th.[74] The next day, the single serving website Disappearing Romney[75] was established with real-time graphs (shown below) charting the large-scale exodus of his Facebook supporters. On November 12th, the Tumblr blog was featured in an article by Mashable[76], which noted that Romney’s page was losing 847 fans per hour. Disappearing Romney was subsequently shared on Gawker[77], the Huffington Post[78], CNN[79] and Slate[80], among other news and internet culture sites.


Recent Like Count For Mitt Romney Realtime Like Count For Mitt Romney 12,060,000 12,010,910 12,045,000 12,010,904 12,030,000 12,010,898 12,015,000 12,010,892 12,000,000 12,010,886


See also: November 14th: #ObamaGifts Parodies

Reputation

Awkwardness

Since embarking on his 2012 presidential campaign, Romney has been characterized in the news media as being socially awkward and unable to relate with other people, particularly the core demographic of Republican voters. On June 6th, 2011, the Twin Cities Star Tribune[15] published an article titled "Mitt Romney, America's awkward stepdad" claiming that Romney was trying too hard to be "cool." Satire news site The Onion[18] published an article titled "Mitt Romney's Goal To Connect With One Voter By The Time This Is All Over" making fun of Romney's inability to win over voters on October 24th, 2011.On November 23rd, 2011, The Huffington Post[17] published an article titled "Mitt Romney's Awkward Exchanges With Humans" which featured several awkward videos of Romney interacting with other people. The single serving site MehRomney.com[23] also illustrates the point with a pun on his first name Mitt (shown right).


Al DS:B Bono | The U.S. and rke Girls just on America's Pakistad its moderate want to watch TIME football greatest fight AE WHY DON'T THEY LIKE ME? Mitt Romney's quest for Republican hearts and minds By Joe Klein   MEH ROMNEY MEHROMNEY.COM

On December 12th, 2011, Time[16] Magazine ran the cover story "Why Don't They Like Me?" (above) about Mitt Romney's inability to connect with certain members of the Republican party. Romney is often characterized as wealthy and out-of-touch in skits on the comedy show Saturday Night Live.

Personal Wealth

Romney was able to accumulate a large amount of his wealth by working at the asset management company Bain Capital. Romney has been criticized for cutting jobs when Bain bought other companies. On December 19th, 2011, The Daily Kos[20] published a story about Bain Capital cutting jobs under Romney's management in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Romney's campaign disclosed that the candidate's net worth was between $190 million and $250 million on August 12th, 2011.[19]


WHY DON'T POOR PEOPLE JUST BUY MORE MONEV

Notable Parodies

On October 14th, 2011, a Bad Lip Reading video (shown left) was uploaded featuring with new audio edited over footage of Romney speaking. On February 9th, 2012, the Shit People Say video "Shit Mitt Says" (shown right) was uploaded to YouTube featuring various awkward and strange things Romney has said on camera.



Several Quickmeme pages have been created for Romney including Scumbag Mitt Romney[12] (left), Socially Awkward Mitt Romney[13] (middle) and Badass Mitt Romney[14] (right).


MAKES SURE US MILITARY IS SO POWERFUL NOBODY WILL THINK TO CHALLENGE IT HIDES HIS MONEY IN CAYMAN ISLANDS SOHE DOESN'T HAVE TO PAY FOR IT quic SOON quickmeme.com THAT PALACE IN FRANCE WHERE AVOIDED THE VIETNAM DRAT WAS NOT THAT LUKURIOUS T ONLY HAD ONE HOUSEBOY AND ONE CHEF THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Spreading Romney

Similar to the Spreading Santorum campaign aimed at fellow GOP candidate Rick Santorum, the campaign Spreading Romney[21] was created to pass around a new definition for the word "romney." The campaign was reported by the web news site Blogger News[22] on February 11th, 2012.


romney (rom-ney) v. 1. To defecate in terror. See also: santorum

Parody Pinterest Account

In early February 2012, humorist Eric Spiegelman[4] began a parody Pinterest account for Romney with the handle "MittRomneyGOP."[5] The site initially contained four separate pinboards, or image collections, titled "Favorite Things," "Snacks," "Pet Accessories," and "Great Deeds." The site was initially covered on February 8th by Uproxx[6] and on the 9th by the Daily Dot.[7]


Pinterest Search AboutLogin Pinterest is an online pinboard. Organize and share things you love. Request an Invite Login Mitt Romney 4Boards- 15 Ping Q Lkes Otollowers, 17 tallowing Favorte Things Sracks Great Des FIN SAI

When the account caught the attention of Mitt Romney's campaign team on February 10th, the Pinterest community manager Enid Hwang got in touch with Spiegelman, stating that they felt it was misleading and requested that the username be changed to "fakemittromney." Spiegelman responded stating that he did not feel comfortable changing the name by saying:

…you're a publishing entity that's more or less open to the public, and I can't in good conscience change my parody at the request of the subject of that parody. It should be obvious to the Romney campaign that nobody sees this as official, and that I am exercising my Free Speech rights in making fun of Gov. Romney's utter tone-deafness when it comes to matters of privilege and class inequality.

Ten minutes after he sent his response, Hwang went ahead and changed the username of the account[8] anyway. Their email interactions were later published on Gawker[9] and was covered by the Inquistr[10] and the Daily Beast.[11]

"Etch A Sketch" Gaffe

On March 21st, 2012, Romney's senior campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom appeared on CNN's Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien and was asked if Romney might be hurt in the general election by going too far to the right during the GOP primary. Fehrnstrom responded that the general campaign is similar to an "Etch A Sketch", a mechanical drawing toy which can be erased by shaking it. Romney's critics interpreted this statement as implying that Romney's political views were fabricated in order to win the nomination and would be altered as soon as the primary election was completed.



“Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.”

Shortly after, Rick Santorum's campaign deputy communications director Matt Beynon tweeted[29] a photo of Rick Santorum holding an Etch A Sketch (shown left) and CBS reporter Rebecca Kaplan tweeted[27] that a Santorum spokeswoman Alice Stewart was handing out mini Etch A Sketch boards outside a Romney campaign event. That evening, the parody Twitter account @MittsEtch-A-Sketch[28] was created, which tweeted support for both sides of rival fandoms (shown right), and Ann Romney appeared on CNN to defend her husband calling Fehrnstrom's gaffe a "distraction."


MittsEtch-A-Sketch@MittsEtchASketc Use the force, Luke. #mittsetchasketch MittsEtch-A-Sketch MittsEtchASketc Beam me up, scotty. #mittsetchasketch MittsEtch-A-SketchMitts EtchASketc Tupac! #mittsetchasketch MittsEtch-A-SketchMitts EtchASketc The Notorious B.I.G. #mittsetchasketch

The following day, the Wall Street Journal[26] published an article titled "Etch A Sketch Stock Soars! Thank You Mitt Romney" which reported that share prices had doubled for the Etch A Sketch manufacturers Ohio Art Co. after the Fehrnstrom gaffe. The website "Etch A Sketch Mitt Romney"[30] was launched which featured a photo of an Etch A Sketch board that cycled through contradictory quotes attributed to Mitt Romney drawn on top.


MAGIC th A Sketch SCREEN TM CONCERNEI ABOUT TIHE POOR IN THIS COUNTRY." TM NOT VERY CONCERNED ABC THE POOOR." 17 MAGIC ketch sCREEN Tweet 1.044 I SAW MY FATIHER MARCIH WITTI MARTN LUTTHER KING." I DID NOT SEE IT WITH MY OVN EYES."

iPhone App Gaffe

On May 29th, 2012, the Romney campaign launched the official iPhone app “With Mitt” on the iTunes[32] store. The free app allowed users to add a variety of pro-Romney slogans like "I'm a Mom For Mitt" and "Obama isn't working" to their photos and share the edited images on Facebook and Twitter. However, Mitt Romney's attempt at raising his social media profile did not last long, as it quickly became apparent that one of the 14 banners in the app contained a spelling error (“A Better Amercia”).

A BETTER' AMERCIA


The gaffe inspired a series of parody images and tweets mocking the typo while the hashtag #amercia became a trending topic the following morning according to the Twitter analytics site Twee.[34] On May 30th, the "Amercia is With Mitt" Tumblr[33] blog was created, which featured parody images created with the app. The same day, the tech news blog Mashable[31] published a post titled “Amercia! Epic Mitt Romney App Gaffe Goes Viral Online”, including a slideshow of notable Amercia image macro examples. The Romney campaign has since filed an update to the app with corrections.


A BETTER AMERCIA I'm with Mitt MITTROMNEY.COM A BETTER AMERCIA I'm with Mitt. MITTROMNEY.COM 9 I'm with Mitt MITTROMNEY.COM

Little Face Mitt

On August 20th, 2012, the single topic blog "Little Face Mitt"[39] was launched on Tumblr, which features edited photographs in which Romney's eyes, nose and mouth are drastically reduced in size in comparison to the rest of his head.



On August 21st, Redditor SiliconC submitted a post[40] to the /r/pics subreddit, which included a tiny face photoshop of Romney's vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan (shown below, left). Within 24 hours, the post received over 14,500 up votes and 2,150 comments, with several Redditors submitting their own photoshopped variations of the Ryan photo (shown below, middle, left).



On August 22nd, the Internet culture blog UpRoxx published a post[41] featuring several edited images from both the "Little Face Mitt" Tumblr and the Paul Ryan photoshop post on Reddit. The same day, Gawker[42] published an article titled "Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan Provide Internet With Hours of Photoshopping Fun", which included a quote from "Little Face Mitt" creator Reuben Glaser who revealed, "The idea of 'Little Face Mitt' is to get people to involuntarily forever see Mitt Romney with a tiny face."

Lucille and Mitt

On March 7th, 2012, a single topic tumblr named Lucille and Mitt[53] was launched, pairing Mitt Romney quotes with photos of the character Lucille Bluth from the cult TV comedy show Arrested Development.[54] The blog was created by writer Hanna Brooks Olsen[55] and graphic designer J. Adam Brinson[56] as a way to highlight the ridiculousness of certain things Romney has said by juxtaposing his quotes with the over-the-top decadent lifestyle of Bluth's character. The blog was featured on sites including Uproxx[57], the Huffington Post[58], Buzzfeed[59] and BlackBook[60] the month it was created. In September 2012, the Atlantic[61] also featured a series of images from the blog.


GUESS WHAT? I MADE A LOT OF MONEY IM NOT GOING TO APOLOGIZE FOR THAT LUSED TOTHINK THAT BECOMING RICH AND BECOMING FAMOUS WOULD MAKE ME HAPPY BOY WASl RIGHT IMNOT CONCERNED ABOUTTHEVERYPOOR

RomCom 2012

On May 11th, 2012, an unknown Tumblr user launched a blog titled RomCom2012[62], as a play on the nickname "rom-com," used to describe romantic comedy films. The blog features photoshopped movie posters of well-known romantic comedies, replacing the male lead's face with Mitt Romney's and a caption applying something from the politician's life to the movie plot. In September 2012, images from the blog were featured on humor site Uproxx[63], celebrity site Glittarazzi[64], and political blogs Politico[65] and ThinkProgress.[66]


natalie PORTMAN mitt ROMNEY NOSTRINGSATTACHED Smart and Sexy Karen Durbin ELLE say anything MITT ROMNEY MERYL STREEP STEVE MARTIN MITT ROMNEY Written and Directed by Nancy Meyers LDivorced...with benefits From the Writer/Director of SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE

Texts From Romney

On September 21st, 2012, Slacktory editor Nick Douglas posted an article titled "Texts from Mitt Romney"[67] featuring a compilation of iPhone-style SMS chat logs written from the perspective of Mitt Romney, exploring a range of gosspips and scandals surrounding the candidate. Douglas' post was promptly picked up by Huffington Post, The Inquisitir and Newser later that same day.


.AT&T 3G 5:01 PM Messages Mitt Edit How do you get a spray tan off? I think you just have to let it fade. Why did you spray-tan? I was talking to Latinos Isn't that basically blackface? No, blackface comes off with soap. Oh good. WAIT WHAT Send .AT&T 3G 1:30 PM Messages Mitt Edit What are you going to do about that 47% video? Oh god, it's horrible, right? Yeah, it's pretty damning It's not even 720p! THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM It's like they shot it on a 3GS hahaha Send .AT&T 3G 11:20 PM Messages Mitt Edit So what's in your secret tax forms? Nothing really. Really? Well, technically I bought a child. You WHAT? Don't worry, we didn't eat him! THAT'S NOT THE PROBLEM Send
AT&T 3G 12:45 PM Messages Mitt Edit Nobody's ever asked for MY birth certificate! That's really kind of offensive. It's just innocent white humor There's no such thing as white humo Racist Send AT&T 3G 9:32 PM Messages Mitt Edit Worn out. Can I crash at your place? Sure, we've got an air mattress What for? Oh ha, no, you'll have to leave your house, obviously. I'm in an apartment. OH GOD Send .AT&T 3G 2:00 PM Messages Mitt Edit Help! I wandered into a bad part of town. (What do you see? There are people ON THE STREET. Homeless? Maybe. Some of them don't have ties. They're walking, OUTSIDE OF CARS Send

#ObamaGifts

On November 14th, during a conference call with hundreds of his campaign donors and fund-raisers, Romney attributed Obama’s victory to so-called “gifts” he doled out to certain groups of people including people with incomes between $25,000 and $30,000 a year, Hispanics and African Americans. One of the callers allowed a New York Times reporter to listen in on the call, and details were published on its political news blog[81] the same day. As the story broke, Twitter user and New York Magazine social media editor Stefan Becket[87] suggested using the hashtag #ObamaGifts[88] to share the best things that have come out of Obama’s campaign or time in office. The hashtag was used more than 1000 times that day[89], with coverage of the tweets on Gawker[82], the Atlantic[83], Twitchy[84], The New Yorker[85] and the Los Angeles Times.[86]


delrayser @delrayser Sure, the tag says "Universal Coverage," but the sleeves on this healthcare are FAR too short! #ObamaGifts Expand 20h 21h Matt Ortega@MattOrtega #ObamaGifts-Just in time for the holiday shopping season Expand 21h easy. Phone "@stefanjbecket Let's do #ObamaGifts" Expand

Transition Site Leaked

The day after Romney's defeat in the presidential election, the political news blog Political Wire[92] published a post titled "Romney's Transition Site," featuring several screenshots of Mitt Romney's "President Elect" transition website prior to its removal. On November 8th, the Internet news blog The Daily Dot[90] published an article titled "What Mitt Romney's Website Would Have Looked Like," which described the various transition pages that had since been taken down.


PRESIDENT ELECT The 21st century can and must be an American century. The torch America carries is one of decency and hope." President-Elect Goa Reoey HOME THE PRESIDENT-ELECT BELIEVE IN AMERICA NOMINEES NEWSROOM JOIN THE ADMINISTRATION "I'm excited about our prospects as a nation. My priority is putting people back to work in America." SMALLER, SIMPLER, SMARTER Believe in America THE INAUGURATION January 21,2013 in Washington, DC

Gas Station Photo

On November 19th, a photograph of Romney pumping gas titled "Mitt Romney at my local gas station.. he looks tired and washed up" was submitted to the /r/pics[93] subreddit, which received 23,700 up votes and 3,900 comments within 20 days. On the following day, Redditor IceBreak submitted an image macro of the photo titled "Emotionally Defeated Romney,"[94] including the caption "How would you like 47% / of my foot up your ass?" (shown below, right). Within the next 20 days, the post received over 15,600 up votes and 700 comments. Also on November 20th, The Daily Dot[91] published an article titled "Redditor's photo of Mitt Romney pumping gas becomes a meme"", which featured a slideshow of notable image macros using the gas station photo.


HOW WOULD YOU LIKE 47% OF MY FOOT UP YOUR ASss quickmeme.com

Search Interest

Search for Mitt Romney had a small peak in January 2008 before peaking again in January 2012.

External References

[1] MittRomney.com – Home

[2] Twitter – @MittRomney

[3] Facebook – Mitt Romney

[4] Tumblr – spiegelman

[5] Pinterest – MittRomneyGOP currently 404ed

[6] Uproxx – The Fake Mitt Romney Pinterest Page Is The Best Thing On Pinterest, I Think

[7] The Daily Dot – Is Mitt Romney a Pinterest user?

[8] Pinterest – FakeMittRomney

[9] Gawker – Romney Campaign Hunts Down Social Media Satirist

[10] The Inquisitr – Pinterest’s first satire account raise the ire of Mitt Romney’s campaign

[11] The Daily Beast – Site Squashes Satirical Romney Account

[12] Quickmeme – Scumbag Mitt Romney

[13] Quickmeme – Socially Awkward Mitt Romney

[14] Quickmeme – Badass Mitt Romney

[15] Star Tribune – Mitt Romney, America's awkward stepdad

[16] Time Magazine – Where is the Love?

[17] The Huffington Post – Mitt Romney's Awkward Exchanges With Humans

[18] The Onion – Mitt Romney's Goal To Connect With One Voter By The Time This Is All Over

[19] Boston – Romney’s net worth pegged at $190-$250M

[20] The Daily Kos – Under Mitt Romney, Bain cut jobs in South Carolina and New Hampshire

[21] Spreading Romney – Romney

[22] Bloger News (via Wayback Machine) – Google Craps On Mitt Romney

[23] MehRomney.com (via Wayback Machine) – You'd Fall Asleep in Your Beer With Him

[24] Seattle Times – With GOP field set, Romney woos the unconvinced

[25] The Washington Post – Santorum slams Romney for aide’s Etch A Sketch comments

[26] Wall Street Journal – Etch A Sketch Stock Soars! Thank You Mitt Romney

[27] Twitter – @Rebecca_CBSNJ

[28] Twitter – MittsEtch-A-Sketch

[29] Twitter – @MattBeynon

[30] etchasketchmittromney.com (via Wayback Machine) – Etch A Sketch Mitt Romney

[31] Mashable – Meet the Romney Campaign's Official iPhone App

[32] iTunes – With Mitt

[33] Tumblr (via Wayback Machine) – Amercia is With Mitt

[34] Twee – #amercia

[35] Elect140 (via Wayback Machine) – IS MITT ROMNEY BUYING TWITTER FOLLOWERS?

[36] BuzzFeed – Romney Campaign / We Don't Buy Twitter Followers

[37] Daily Dot – Romney campaign accused of buying thousands of Twitter followers

[38] Mediate (via Wayback Machine) – Mitt Romney Denies Buying 150,000 Twitter Followers

[39] Tumblr – Little Face Mitt

[40] Reddit – The Photo of Paul Ryan on his wiki

[41] UpRoxx – 10 Little Face Mitt Images Capture What Election 2012 Would Be Like if Mitt romney Had a Tiny Face

[42] Gawker – Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan Provide Internet with Hours of Photoshopping Fun

[43] Gawker – Hackers Claim to Possess Mitt Romney’s Tax Returns, Threaten to Release Them Unless Million-Dollar Ransom Is Paid

[44] The Verge – Hacker claims to have Mitt Romney's tax returns, demands $1 million in Bitcoin

[45] The Daily Dot – Hackers hold Mitt Romney's allegedly stolen tax returns for ransom

[46] Politico – Feds look into alleged theft of Mitt Romney tax returns

[47] Washington Post (via Wayback Machine) – Secret Service investigates reported theft of Romney tax files, $1 million extortion threat

[48] The Huffington Post (via Wayback Machine) – Allegation Investigated By Secret Service

[49] Pastebin – Romney 1040 Collection

[50] MotherJones – SECRET VIDEO: Romney Tells Millionaire Donors What He REALLY Thinks of Obama Voters

[51] Tumblr – We Are the 47 Percent

[52] Gothamist – Romney Stands By 47% Of Americans Suck Video: "Well, Um, It's Not Elegantly Stated"

[53] Tumblr – Lucille and Mitt

[54] Wikipedia – Arrested Development

[55] Twitter – @mshannabrooks

[56] Twitter – @ jadambrinson

[57] Uproxx – Lucille and Mitt

[58] Huffington Post – 'Lucille And Mitt': The Lucille Bluth/Mitt Romney Mashup Daymaker The World Has Been Clamoring For

[59] Buzzfeed – Lucille and Mitt

[60] BlackBook – Lucille and Mitt, Your Weekend Tumblr Diversion

[61] The Atlantic – Today's Most Awesome Tumblr: 'Arrested Development' Meets Mitt Romney

[62] Tumblr – RomCom2012

[63] Uproxx – What If Every Romantic Comedy Starred Mitt Romney, One Tumblr Dares To Ask

[64] Glittarazzi – Things That Make Us Laugh: Mitt Romney-Inspired 'Rom Com 2012' Tumblr

[65] Politico – Tumblr turns Romney into rom-com star

[66] Think Progress (via Wayback Machine) – How Romantic Comedies Explain Mitt Romney

[67] Slacktory (via Wayback Machine) – Texts From Mitt Romney

[68] Democratic Underground – Fuck You, Mitt.

[69] Gawker – Mitt’s Google Problem: Googling the Words ‘Completely Wrong’ Results in a Flood of Romney Photos

[70] ABC News – The Truth About Romney’s ‘Completely Wrong’ Google Problem

[71] Twitter – Search results for Completely Wrong

[72] Tumblr – Tagged results for Completely Wrong

[73] SF Gate – The Tweetelection: Obama had more than just the ground game in his favor

[74] Daily Dot – Romney rapidly losing friends on Facebook

[75] Disappearing Romney – Home

[76] Mashable – ‘Disappearing Romney’ Website Tracks Governor’s Declining Facebook Likes

[77] Gawker – Single Serving Site Lets You Watch Mitt Romney’s Facebook Fans Disappear in Real-Time

[78] Huffington Post – 'Disappearing Romney' Website Shows Candidate's Plunging Facebook Popularity

[79] CNN – People 'unliking' Romney on Facebook

[80] Slate – Watch Mitt Romney's Facebook Fan Count Drop Every Time You Hit "Refresh"

[81] New York Times – Romney Blames Loss on Obama’s ‘Gifts’ to Minorities and Young Voters

[82] Gawker – Mitt Romney Blames Election Loss on Obama’s ‘Gifts’ to Impoverished Young Minorities

[83] The Atlantic – Mitt Romney's Not Finished Making Memes: #ObamaGifts

[84] Twitchy – Mitt Romney

[85] New Yorker – Romney Gets the Last Gaffe

[86] LA Times – Mitt Romney's misperception of President Obama's 'gifts'

[87] Twitter – @stefanjbecket's tweet

[88] Twitter – Tweet results for #ObamaGifts

[89] Topsy – Tweet statistics for #obamagifts

[90] Daily Dot (via Wayback Machine) – What President Mitt Romney's website would have looked like

[91] Daily Dot – Redditors photo of Mitt Romney pumpking gas becomes a meme

[92] Political Wire (via Wayback Machine) – Romneys Transition Site

[93] Reddit – Mitt Romney at my local gas station

[94] Reddit – Emotionally Defeated Romney

Recent Videos 63 total

Recent Images 426 total



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