NEW HAVEN, CONN. - Former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's comments about 47 percent of the population dependent on the government and "binders full of women" topped this year's best quotes, according to a Yale University librarian.
Fred Shapiro, associate librarian at Yale Law School, released his seventh annual list of the most notable quotations of the year.
"Debate remarks and gaffes actually seemed to play an important role in the ups and downs of the election campaign and may even have affected the ultimate outcome of the election," Shapiro said.
Romney, who lost the November election to President Obama, made the 47 percent comment at a private fundraiser in May that was secretly recorded and posted online in September by Mother Jones magazine.
Romney spoke about reviewing "binders full of women" as governor when he sought to diversify his Massachusetts administration.
"It contributed to an image of him as being somewhat out of touch and maybe particularly out of touch with issues related to women," Shapiro said.
Obama made the list, too, for his "you didn't build that" comment, his contention that people who built businesses had help, from teachers, family and other supporters -- and sometimes the government.
"It was probably the leading line that Obama wished he hadn't made during this year," Shapiro said.
The original "Yale Book of Quotations" was published in 2006, and Shapiro has updated it with an annual list of the top 10 quotes. Shapiro picks quotes that are famous, important or revealing of the spirit of the times, not necessarily ones that are the most eloquent or admirable.
ASSOCIATED PRESS