10 Weird, Wonderful And Hilarious Moments With Women From The Debates

Politics

10 Weird, Wonderful And Hilarious Moments With Women From The Debates

12:30 pm, October 23rd | by Sarah Devlin

Well, it’s over. Not the election, certainly, but the next two weeks will be like a piece of cake now that we’re finished with the lengthy, exhausting and frequently frustrating presidential and vice-presidential debates. Now that those are done, the process of reflection (and detoxing from all of those debate drinking games) can begin. Here are ten women-centric moments from the three presidential debates and the vice-presidential debate that made us laugh, cringe, cheer and scratch our heads.

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1.1. Martha Raddatz Wins The VP Debate

<strong>1. Martha Raddatz Wins The VP Debate</strong>

Sure, Joe Biden, Paul Ryan, and Joe Biden's amazing repertoire of facial expressions were there, but the real star of the vice-presidential debate was Martha Raddatz, a tough, smart and assertive moderator who felt like a particular breath of fresh air after the sleepy pushover wearing a Jim Lehrer skin-suit who showed up to moderate the first presidential debate.

2.2. Candy Crowley's Fact-Checking Moment

<strong>2. Candy Crowley's Fact-Checking Moment</strong>

Whether or not you think Candy Crowley was right to jump in on the Libya question (and there are certainly plenty of people who were Shocked and Appalled) it was a moment of bravery from a moderator that went unmatched by either of the other two (male) moderators of the other debates. It also broke the "No you didn't!"/"Yes I did!" schoolyard shouting match that Obama and Romney were locked in until Crowley spoke up, and I think that deserves a certain amount of gratitude from everyone.

3.3. Michelle Obama Spending Her Wedding Anniversary Watching Her Hubs Get Trounced

<strong>3. Michelle Obama Spending Her Wedding Anniversary Watching Her Hubs Get Trounced</strong>

Poor Michelle Obama - she's already on the record as not liking debates very much, and the first presidential match-up of the election season must have been particularly trying. She said in an interview, "This, you know, attending a presidential debate on my 20th anniversary is probably the worst way for me to spend (it).' ... I get so nervous at these debates." Maybe that's why she looked decidedly un-psyched from the beginning.

4.4. The Woman Whose Name Defeated Mitt Romney

<strong>4. The Woman Whose Name Defeated Mitt Romney</strong>

Poor Lorraine Osorio just wanted to ask a question about immigration, but before she did this had to happen:

ROMNEY: Is it Loraina?

OSORIO: Lorraine.

ROMNEY: Lorraine?

OSORIO: Yes, Lorraine.

ROMNEY: Lorraine.

OSORIO: How you doing?

ROMNEY: Good, thanks.

5.5. Binders Full Of Women

<strong>5. Binders Full Of Women</strong>

Obviously. Romney should run in 2016 on a "You're welcome for all your Halloween costumes" platform.

6.6. The Enormous Gender Voting Gap In This Election

<strong>6. The Enormous Gender Voting Gap In This Election</strong>

"If only women voted, President Obama would be on track for a landslide re-election, equaling or exceeding his margin of victory over John McCain in 2008. Mr. Obama would be an overwhelming favorite in Ohio, Florida, Virginia and most every other place that is conventionally considered a swing state. The only question would be whether he could forge ahead into traditionally red states, like Georgia, Montana and Arizona. If only men voted, Mr. Obama would be biding his time until a crushing defeat at the hands of Mitt Romney, who might win by a similar margin to the one Ronald Reagan realized over Jimmy Carter in 1980. Only California, Illinois, Hawaii and a few states in the Northeast could be considered safely Democratic. Every other state would lean red, or would at least be a toss-up." - FiveThirtyEight

7.7. Or...Maybe Not So Enormous? (Depends On Who You Ask)

<strong>7. Or...Maybe Not So Enormous? (Depends On Who You Ask)</strong>

"‘The big gender gap I'm looking at right now is Obama’s male gender gap because those men seem pretty cemented in,' said Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, who served as an adviser to Newt Gingrich’s presidential bid. ‘"Whereas there’s a fair amount of women who remain fluid, either completely undecided or soft in their support for either Obama or Romney.’" - Boston.com

8.8. Michelle And Ann Sitting Through All Three Debates

<strong>8. Michelle And Ann Sitting Through All Three Debates</strong>

It can't have been easy for either Michelle Obama or Ann Romney to sit in the audience for all three debates while their husbands traded barbs and the peanut gallery scrutinized them for any trace of impropriety and analyzed the meaning of their outfits. Good on them for doing it, and for being so polite to each other on stage afterward (yes, I watch and take careful note of who hugs whom!), when it was probably the last thing they wanted to do.

9.9. That Time That Neither Candidate Focused On Women's Issues For An Entire Debate

<strong>9. That Time That Neither Candidate Focused On Women's Issues For An Entire Debate</strong>

Given how aggressively women were championed over the summer by both parties, it was pretty disappointing how any discussion of women's issues was basically discarded in the first debate in favor of arguing over the deficit and taxes for 90 minutes. Conservative female voters might have been disappointed too, but it was probably mitigated by their candidate's tour de force victory over Obama.

10.10. That Time Both Candidates Fought Over Who Loved Women More

<strong>10. That Time Both Candidates Fought Over Who Loved Women More</strong>

After the first debate, embarrassingly, featured nary a peep about women's issues and a loooooot of blowhardy rhetoric about the tax code, the second debate was seized as an opportunity for both candidates to emphasize how much they cared about women's issues, and both camps doubled down even further on courting women in their appearances after Hofstra. Romney argued that "This president has failed America's women...They've suffered in terms of getting jobs, they've suffered in terms of falling into poverty." Obama countered, outlining a plan to hire more teachers, "We don't have to collect a bunch of binders to find qualified, talented, driven young women ready to learn and teach in these fields right now."

TAGS: Barack Obama | Election 2012 | mitt romney | Slide Shows

Anonymous

“women’s issues”

What men’s issues were discussed?
Sarah Devlin

That’s a joke, right?
Anonymous

No.
Anonymous

that was stupid
Sarah Devlin

Thank you for your feedback!
http://profile.yahoo.com/Y5DLRFFLJSKYZLOLH2DKZFM6IU Andrea Rosado

@sarahdevlin:disqus that made us laugh, cringe, cheer and scratch our heads. ..Fave.co/Q8bXxi
Anonymous

Seriously? The only one that could be addressed (seriously) is how do we nurture talented young white males who, while no longer advantaged, do not even have a level playing field?

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