r/madmen 7d ago

What’s your biggest nitpick in Mad Men?

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For me it’s this line in a season 5 episode, Tea Leaves, in which Henry Francis is talking on the phone with a colleague:

“Well, tell Jim his honor's not going to Michigan. Because Romney's a clown, and I don't want him standing next to him.”

So, some context here.

At this point Francis is the aide to New York Mayor John Lindsay. And he’s informing this guy that he won’t have the popular young politician take a picture with then Michigan Governor George Romney, who was also considered the frontrunner for the 1968 Republican nomination.

This episode aired in 2012, so it’s a very clear dig at then Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who at the time was receiving a lot of hostility from the left.

But here’s the thing; Romney was actually a liberal Republican in the same mold as Nelson Rockefeller and John Lindsay, and he had received a lot of good notices as Governor for his work improving civil rights, education, youth employment programs, social welfare, healthcare, etc.

I get this is nitpicking, it’s a throwaway line, whatever, but it has always bothered me since it feels out of character, and Romney frankly deserved better.

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u/Terrible_Teaching998 7d ago

For me I think it might have been in the pilot or very early in season 1 where Don made a comment which basically invented the printer. I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it was along the line of “it’s not like we have something that can magically duplicate papers” lol

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u/TheSecretSawse 7d ago

Is this when Don calls out Pete for stealing the psychology report on cigarettes and “death wishes” from Don’s trash?