Former top Romney administration staffer Childs a binder women and 'proud of it'

Big Bird is out and apparently "binders full of women" are in.

The now-infamous words were spoken by Mitt Romney during the second presidential debate last week at Hofstra University.

The Republican presidential nominee's comments were in response to a question about his position on pay equity and an attempt to highlight the effort he put forth as governor of Massachusetts to find and hire qualified women candidates for his administration.

The phrase immediately went viral on the Internet with everyone taking to social media sites. Hash-tag "bindersfullofwomen" instantly trended on Twitter. A Facebook page titled "Binders Full of Women" has more than 350,000 "likes" and URL domain names have already been snatched up. What seemed to be an innocent response is now at the forefront of discussion and a headache for the Romney campaign as it tries to win over undecided women voters.

The day before the debate a Gallup/USA Today poll showed that Romney and President Obama were deadlocked at 48 percent among likely Swing State women voters.

So, who were these "binder women" whom Romney claimed he sought out and added to his administration? Elizabeth Childs was one of them. Romney hired her in 2003 as commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health.

"If I'm a binder girl, I'm proud of it," she said. "I know that Governor Romney is a fabulous person to hire and run an organization and business and government."

To see more of the Childs interview click here:

"I don't think that any of this criticism is founded," Childs added. "Governor Romney has so much respect for women of all kinds."

Drew Brody contributed to this report.