The 25 Funniest Election Memes (So Far)

Image via Complex Original

Hands Up Biden

Date: October 11, 2012

Event: Vice Presidential Debate

During the VP debate, Biden, who was theatrically expressive throughout, threw his arms in the air in response to his opponent's discussion of the President's role in changing the economy. Biden expressed that Romney and Ryan "talk about this Great Recession as if it fell out of the sky, like, 'Oh my goodness, where did it come from?'"

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Malarkey!

Date: October 11, 2012

Event: Vice Presidential Debate

As Paul Ryan was speaking during the VP debate, Biden was blatantly laughing at his opponent's remarks and even cut him off by saying, "With all due respect, that's a bunch of malarkey." Since Biden's use of the word, further debates have been taking place online discussing whether or not the word has been brought back or not.

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Horses & Bayonets

Date: October 22, 2012

Event: Third Presidential Debate

When Romney pointed out that our Navy has fewer ships than we did in 1917, Obama responded by saying that we also have less horses and bayonets today. The President wanted to point out that in place of ships, horses, and bayonets, other vessels have become available according to changing technology. However, the Internet responded more strongly to the phrase "horses and bayonets."

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Greasy Face Romney

Date: September 2012

Whether or not you're aware of this trend of "greasy-faced" GIFs and memes, you've probably noticed the treatment applied to Mitt Romney in the past few months. The Greasy Face Romney meme is based on showing Romney hysterically laughing at things.

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Let Detroit Go Bankrupt

Date: October 16, 2012

Event: Mitt Romney's Op-ed for The New York Times

In 2008, Romney wrote an op-ed titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," in which he expressed his stance on the Detroit auto industry bailout. In more recent debates, Romney has said that he will take credit for the return of the industry. He was basically asking for the mocking memes that ensued.

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Inappropriate Timing Bill Clinton

Date: April 16, 2012

Event: White House Briefing on the Tax Bill

When Bill Clinton was photographed enthusiastically walking on stage to join a tired-looking President, a Redditor couldn't resist adding a witty caption. Since the memes have started on Reddit, many other captions, mostly making jokes about the former President's past sex scandal, have been coupled with the image to point out Clinton's inappropriate timing.

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Clint Eastwood Talking To Invisible Barack Obama

Date: August 30, 2012

Event: Republican National Convention

Clint Eastwood gave a speech staging a conversation with an empty chair, which he appointed to stand in for the President Obama. Since staging such a bizarre "performance," speaking to empty chairs a.k.a. "Eastwooding" is now more popular than anyone could have anticipated.

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Relatable Romney

Date: April 27, 2012

These memes show Romney attempting to relate to American citizens and the nation's problems. He is presented as a wealthy businessman making clueless, uninformed statements, which most of the public would find offensive.

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Obama's "Ask Me Anything" On Reddit

Date: August 29, 2012

Event: Obama's "Ask Me Anything" Q&A on Reddit

In August, the President held a live 'Ask Me Anything' session on Reddit, answering questions about space exploration, Internet freedom, his favorite basketball player, and more. It caused overwhelming traffic on the Reddit server, and the site crashed a few times.

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Paul Ryan Gosling

Date: April 30, 2012

Event: NakedDC Blog Post by Emily Zanotti

Ryan Gosling "Hey, girl" memes have been popular in showing the actor making feminist statements and being a sweet guy. When a certain political consultant saw a connection between Paul Ryan and Ryan Gosling, Paul Ryan Gosling "Hey, girl" memes were born.

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Little Face Mitt

Date: August 20, 2012

Wisconsin humorist Reuben Glaser launched a project called "Unsettling Pictures of Mitt Romney With a Very Tiny Face," leading to the creation of the Littlefacemitt tumblr. Dozens of images have been edited to shrink Romney's eyes, nose, and mouth, giving him a tiny face in the middle of a big head. Glaser said that the purpose of Little Face Mitt is "to get people to involuntarily forever see Mitt Romney with a tiny face.”

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Obama Iowa Rally

Date: August 13, 2012

Event: Obama Rally in Iowa

AP photographer Carolyn Kaster snapped this photo, New York Magazine commented that Obama looked wizardly, and the Internet deemed it meme-worthy.

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RomCom 2012

Date: May 2012

Source: Tumblr

In May, a Tumblr was born that features Photoshopped images of Mitt Romney on the covers of popular Romantic Comedy films. Just because.

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Mitt Romney's Mom Jeans

Date: January 2012

Event: Chris Matthews' "Morning Joe"

Chris Matthews called Romney's choice of pants "mom jeans" and it caught on like wildfire. Someone Photoshopped his torso onto a mom's lower half, and the meme was born.

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Paul Ryan Workout Photos

Date: December 2011

Event: TIME magazine feature

The Vice Presidential candidate is also a believer in the P90X workout program and posed for this photo shoot for TIME on October 22nd...too bad the Internet got a hold of the pics before then.

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Romney's 47% Remark

Date: September 17, 2012

Event: May Private Fundraiser in Florida

When a video was released of Romney speaking about, or disregarding, 47% of Americans “who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them,” memes responded. Romney was filmed stating that 47% of Americans do not pay income tax, and that this part of the population is not of his interest. These memes give a response to his remarks.

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Obama’s “You Didn’t Build That” Gaffe

Date: July 13, 2012

Event: Roanoke, VA Fire Station Speech

During the speech, Obama took shots at Romney by saying that anyone who has been successful did not do it on their own. The quote "You didn't build that" was used by the Romney campaign in anti-Obama ads and all over the Internet in memes like these.

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Romney's iPhone App Gaffe

Date: May 29, 2012

Event: "With Mitt" iPhone App Launch

The Romney Campaign launched an app so that supporters could superimpose pro-Romney slogans on their photos and upload them to various social media sites. The only problem was that someone misspelled "America." Oops.

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Binders Full of Women

Date: October 16, 2012

Event: Second Presidential Debate

Mitt Romney said that as newly elected Governor of Massachusetts, all of the applications that came across his desk were men. When he went to women's groups to find qualified women applicants, he said, "they brought us whole binders full of women." It was not long until there was a Tumblr devoted to the quote, complete with memes.

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Menacing Josh Romney

Date: October 16, 2012

Event: Second Presidential Debate

During the debate, we got a glimpse of Mitt Romney's son, Josh Romney, and his expression was nothing less than terrifying...and hilarious.

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Paul Ryan's Bean

Date: October 11, 2012

Event: Vice Presidential Debate

In discussing the issue of abortion, Paul Ryan gave a personal anecdote: "My wife Janna and I went to Mercy Hospital...for our seven week ultrasound for our firstborn child, and we saw that heartbeat. A little baby was in the shape of a bean. And to this day, we have nicknamed our firstborn child Liza, 'Bean.' Now I believe that life begins at conception." Although this story may be touching for some, many are not convinced by Paul Ryan's Bean as a justification for anti-choice.

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Jim Lehrer

Date: October 3, 2012

Event: First Presidential Debate

As moderator, PBS's Jim Lehrer did a questionable job keeping the candidates in check.

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Hair Swap

Date: October 3, 2012

Event: First Presidential Debate

While some may have actually been paying attention to the Presidential debate, others were looking at the candidates' hair. Graphic designer Shelby White created images of the candidates, switching their hair with their opponent's, the moderators', and their wives.

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Mitt Romney vs. Big Bird

Date: October 3, 2012

Event: First Presidential Debate

During the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney stated that even though he does like Sesame Street's Big Bird, he would cut funding for PBS programming. Tons of memes and Twitter accounts immediately came to Big Bird's defense.

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Romney Chipotle Photobomb

Date: October 2, 2012

Event: Romney Campaign Trail Stop

The day before the first Presidential debate, Republican candidate Mitt Romney chose to stop at a Chipotle in Denver, Colorado for lunch and a photo-op. No one expected this awesome photobomb from an excited employee, but the Internet has definitely capitalized on it.

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