Category: Yglesias Award Nominee

"We’ve got to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything. We cannot be, we must not be, the party that simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys… It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments — enough of that. It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters," – Governor Bobby Jindal to Politico.

I'll believe him when he names Limbaugh as one critical source of the problem. I'll believe him even more if he were able to find space within the GOP for those who support marriage equality, efforts to combat climate change and a non-absolutist position on abortion rights. But he cannot change theology in a religious party – especially when he is one of its high priests.

"It won't kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires. It really won't, I don't think. I don't really understand why Republicans don't take Obama's offer," – Bill Kristol, on "Fox News Sunday".

"Win or lose, we are in the twilight of the Age of Reagan. Romney’s efforts have almost recreated the Reagan coalition, but in today’s America that is no longer enough. To prevail in 2014 and beyond, the Republican party will need to learn to adapt its principles to new times and new voters…

We must take on this challenge anew as we undertake our rendezvous with destiny and remake the conservative majority Reagan bequeathed to us. To do that, we must also ask and answer two other questions. If we didn’t [win], why? If we must, how? I believe we can and will answer these questions, as painful as the discussion amongst us will be at times, and I believe that regardless of what happens tomorrow, the American sun will rise and set with conservatism. For there is nothing wrong with conservatism that reapplication of conservative principles won’t solve, and there is nothing wrong with America that rededication to conservative principles won’t cure," – Henry Olsen, a vice-president of AEI, predicting an Obama victory in National Review.

"One of the things that you always want to be for, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, is that you want everyone who's eligible to vote to vote. … I think that all of this stuff that has transpired over the last two years is in search of a solution to a problem, voting fraud, that doesn’t really exist when you look deeply at the question. It’s part of the mythology now in the Republican Party that there’s widespread voter fraud across the country. In fact, there’s not," – Steve Schmidt, top McCain strategist in '08.

“My party, unfortunately, is the bastion of those people — not all of them, but most of them — who are still basing their positions on race. Let me just be candid: My party is full of racists, and the real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with the content of his character, nothing to do with his competence as commander-in-chief and president, and everything to do with the color of his skin, and that’s despicable,” – Laurence Wilkerson, former chief-of-staff for Colin Powell.

For our many new readers, a glossary for all our awards is here. We invite you to nominate anything you find in each category and email them in for consideration. At the end of the year, all Dishheads get to vote on the champion for the year in each category.

Many readers are pushing back against our implied defense of Chait's defense of Romney:

"Binders full of women" was not an awkward phrasing the way "You didn't build that" was really just an awkward phrasing. It was the sentiment behind the whole exchange that is offensive: In response to a question about pay equity (which he never answered), Romney talks about how, in 2002(!), after many years in private equity, he or his senior staff didn't know a single qualified woman who could have held a senior position, and had to conduct an extensive search for one? And then implied that women need to go home by 5pm to get back in the kitchen for their kids? What if women OR men need to go home at 5pm for some other reason? Workplace flexibility isn't a "women" specific issue, and the entire awkward answer had nothing to do with the question he was asked, which was about pay equity.

Another:

Romney was in Boston, possibly Ground Zero for the entire country and maybe even the world for highly-educated and highly-accomplished professional women. You can’t go anywhere around here without bumping into a female PhD, MD, JD, or MBA.  The idea that neither he nor his staff knew ANYONE who was female and qualified in Massachusetts is just mind-boggling.

I don’t think he would have done it maliciously or with a conscious intent to discriminate. I do think that his worldview, influenced by a very conservative religion when it comes to gender roles as well as his conservative politics, creates enormous blind spots.

Another:

But I have to believe you are aware of the story behind those binders – you posted it on the Dish yesterday, didn't you?  You posted about how Romney only had those "binders of women" because MassGAP pressed them on him.  He was not actively seeking qualified women to be part of his administration, this had not been a concern of his at Bain, odds are the thought never would have occurred to him independently.

So I am confused by the Yglesias nominee.  It is out of sync with everything else you have posted.

An Yglesias Award is for writing something that might not be on message for your particular cause or candidate. So Chait qualifies. And what he was saying is that the phrase "binders full of women" was a gaffe that is not worth the attention that other subjects deserve. The issue of Romney's views of women and policy with particular interest to women is a separate matter. And I agree with my readers on that. I just felt the meme was a little strained after a day of fun.