# 2012 United States Presidential Election The 2012 US Presidential Election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney turned into one of the internet's first fully Twitter-driven campaigns, spitting out viral moments like Binders Full of Women, Big Bird, Horses and Bayonets, and the leaked 47 percent tape. Almost every debate line generated its own hashtag, parody account, or Tumblr blog within minutes of going on air. ## Overview The 2012 United States Presidential Election was held on November 6th, 2012 and re-elected incumbent Democrat Barack Obama over Republican challenger Mitt Romney[1]. Online, though, the race is remembered less for its policy fights than for the flood of one-off memes it produced from gaffes, debate soundbites, and awkward photo shoots. Standout moments included the 'A Better Amercia' app typo, Obama's 'you didn't build that' line, Paul Ryan's Time Magazine bicep-curl photo set[2], the hidden-camera '47 percent' fundraiser tape, and debate hashtags like #SaveBigBird, 'binders full of women,' and #horsesandbayonets[4]. Many of these grew big enough to become their own standalone Know Your Meme entries. ## How It Spread Every debate created its own meme cycle. Romney's October 3rd line about cutting PBS turned 'Save Big Bird' into Twitter's fourth-highest trending topic before the first debate ended[4]. Days later, Time Magazine's October 11th release of Paul Ryan's workout photos, hours before the vice presidential debate, sparked BuzzFeed's 'Paul Ryan Did a Beefcake Photo Shoot' writeup[2] and the @PaulRyansBicep parody account the same night. The October 16th town hall then delivered 'Binders Full of Women,' which had a matching Tumblr and a @RomneysBinder Twitter handle within minutes. Three days later, Obama coined 'Romnesia' at a Virginia rally, and on October 23rd Romney's remark that the Navy had fewer ships than in 1917 pushed #horsesandbayonets to the top of Twitter's worldwide trending list by midnight. Leaked video fed the cycle too. Mother Jones' September 17th release of the hidden-camera '47 percent' fundraiser tape[3] became the campaign's most damaging single leak and was already photocopied into the 'We Are the 47 Percent' Tumblr the following day, echoing the We Are the 99 Percent format from Occupy Wall Street. ## How to Use The label is used as a shorthand for the whole 2012 meme cycle rather than a single format. In practice, people typically reference the individual moments born from it, quoting 'binders full of women' to mock awkward gender-balance talk, 'horses and bayonets' to dismiss outdated arguments, or '47 percent' to flag out-of-touch political speech. Paul Ryan's bicep-curl photos still get pulled out as a beefcake political image macro too. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is 2012 United States Presidential Election? The 2012 US Presidential Election refers to both the November 6th, 2012 race that re-elected Barack Obama over Mitt Romney[1] and the wave of internet memes born from its debates, gaffes, and campaign leaks. ### Where did 2012 United States Presidential Election come from? The meme cycle started with early campaign gaffes in spring 2012 and grew through leaks like Mother Jones' September 17th release of Romney's hidden-camera '47 percent' fundraiser tape[3]. ### What does 2012 United States Presidential Election mean? As a meme label it groups the many individual memes born during the race, including Paul Ryan's Time Magazine bicep-curl photo set covered by BuzzFeed's 'Beefcake Photo Shoot' piece[2] and Romney's 'binders full of women' debate line. ### How do you use 2012 United States Presidential Election? People still cite the individual moments rather than the election as a whole, most durably the '47 percent' fundraiser tape[3], which is still used as shorthand for out-of-touch political speech. ### Is 2012 United States Presidential Election still popular? The individual 2012 memes are classic references now rather than active formats, but the Paul Ryan beefcake shoot[2] and the debate hashtags still get pulled out in political meme threads. ## References 1. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_United_States_presidential_election]() 2. [https://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/paul-ryan-did-a-beefcake-photo-shoot-and-its-the]() 3. [https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/secret-video-romney-private-fundraiser/]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/2012-united-states-presidential-election]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/2012-united-states-presidential-election Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library