Should I delete my post and this one?

dont worry about it. you are the sexond poster concerned about saying the same as other poster replies. that is not a big deal. it happens.... lots.

[link:http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/talkingpolitics/archive/2012/10/16/mind-the-binder.aspx|Hey, I know about that binder! And guess what -- Mitt Romney was lying about it.

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What actually happened was that in 2002 -- prior to the election, not even knowing yet whether it would be a Republican or Democratic administration -- a bipartisan group of women in Massachusetts formed MassGAP to address the problem of few women in senior leadership positions in state government. There were more than 40 organizations involved with the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus (also bipartisan) as the lead sponsor.

They did the research and put together the binder full of women qualified for all the different cabinet positions, agency heads, and authorities and commissions. They presented this binder to Governor Romney when he was elected.

I have written about this before, in various contexts; tonight I've checked with several people directly involved in the MassGAP effort who confirm that this history as I've just presented it is correct -- and that Romney's claim tonight, that he asked for such a study, is false.

Exactly.

And even though Obama could do better in terms of number of women in his administration, at least he had a woman (Valerie Jarrett) as his true "right hand man" -- which shows what he thinks about women's opinions -- and respected his primary Democratic opponent enough to appoint her to the most important job in his White House.

As bad as my own birth culture (Catholicism) is about women, I'm deeply uncomfortable with the views on women of someone from a culture like Mormonism.

And it's a pattern with Romney (Ryan). When asked about policy—this time about the way in which government has a role to play in the assurance of equal pay for women—he responds with a personal story. This time, to try to show how woman-friendly he is, he could only talk about how he tried to find some jobs for a few women in his cabinet. This is not policy for the hundred and fifty million women or so in this country. Romney can't get a binder containing them all and personally find them a job. He has no policy to address pay inequality for women. Obama does. We need government to do it, not the kindness of millionaires or heads of state. An individual or the private sector will somehow magically make it all okay.

There was a moment in the vice-presidential debate that no one really talked about, but I thought was critical in this regard. Ryan began to insert a story about how Mitt Romney had met some family who was worried about how they'd pay for college, and he told them, "Why don't worry, I will pay for your kids' college." This was almost worse than the "ask your parents for a loan" response. This time, instead of proposing a government solution for how people can afford college, the message was: find yourself a generous multi-millionaire to bankroll it for you.

Again, government plays no role in formulating a policy here to address a problem for citizens. These are all irrelevant, personal stories meant to soften Romney's image on women or students or the middle class. But they are always warped, empty, personal stories that depend on the kindness of strangers or the laissez-faire "business will take care of it somehow."

This is a huge contrast with Obama, who has tried mightily to show us, in word or deed, that government has a role to play, and that it must play a role in leveling the playing field for everyone. For Romney, it's just go look for a sugar daddy in the private sector.

But that's about all I'd trust him with.

Everyone is so smart and nothing gets past us!