The top viral political moments of 2012

Politics by nature promise a respectable showing of memorable moments, from candidate candids to mesmerizing memes. But in an election year -- with debates, posturing and gaggles of reporters documenting each passing moment -- we're especially likely to see sensations that draw hundreds of thousands of people to the Internet and other new media to gawk at missteps and critical turning points.

Here, in chronological order, are nine of the most viral political moments of 2012.

The top viral political moments of 2012

May 9: Obama supports same-sex marriage

Three days after Vice President Joe Biden said he is "absolutely comfortable" with two men or two women getting married, President Obama said in an interview with ABC News that "same sex couples should be able to get married," a critical pivot from his previous statements that his position on the issue is "evolving," making him the first sitting U.S. president to back the rights of same-sex couples to marry.

"I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married," Mr. Obama said.

The top viral political moments of 2012

July 13: Obama's "You didn't build that"

The biggest potential foil to the president's reelection came mid-summer, when he said during a campaign stop, "If you've got a business, you didn't build that - somebody else made that happen." The line inspired a theme makeover for the Romney campaign, which began to boast signs and chants that "We did build that!" Mr. Obama challenged that the quote was taken out of context.

The president's full quote: "Look, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."

The top viral political moments of 2012

August 19: Todd Akin on "legitimate rape"

During his ultimately unsuccessful bid for Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill's seat, six-term Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., gave an answer to an interviewer's question about whether he would support abortions for women who have been raped that set off a national debate, with conservatives from his own party calling on him to apologize.

"It seems to me first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare," Akin said in the interview with a local news outlet. Of the rape victim's chances of becoming pregnant, he added, "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Just after the fallout had died down a bit, Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, who ousted veteran Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., in the primary, gave way to round two of the "legitimate rape" controversy when he described a pregnancy resulting from rape as "a gift from God." Both Akin and Mourdock lost on Election Day.

The top viral political moments of 2012

August 11: Mitt Romney adds Paul Ryan to GOP ticket

Late on a seemingly inconsequential Friday night, Mitt Romney's presidential campaign announced that the presumptive GOP nominee would unveil his running mate the next day in Norfolk, Va. Reporters scrambled overnight to position themselves for the big event, simultaneously working to confirm the pick would be House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan, as rumors indicated.

The next morning, Ryan stepped off the retired battleship USS Wisconsin and onto the national stage alongside Romney, energizing the conservative base and bringing substance to the former governor's platform positions. Introducing the Badger State congressman as his running mate, Romney slipped and called Ryan "the next president of the United States" - a mistake also made by then-candidate Obama four years prior when introducing Joe Biden as his running mate - then came back on stage and corrected himself.

The top viral political moments of 2012

August 30: Clint Eastwood's RNC speech

At the height of the tightly-scripted Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., actor Clint Eastwood made a "surprise" appearance, delivering a sometimes humorous, other times scathing speech which, according to Mitt Romney's campaign, was entirely ad-libbed. Billed heavily earlier in the day as the night's "mystery guest," Eastwood threw the crowd some bones, including making use of his famous Dirty Harry line, "Make my day."

The real star of the evening, though, was the vacant chair next to him that was supposed to represent President Obama.

Engaging the chair in conversation, Eastwood criticized the inanimate object for everything from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to the president's change of heart on closing the U.S. prison at Guantanamo. "When somebody doesn't do the job, you gotta let `em go," Eastwood said.

The top viral political moments of 2012

September 6: Granholm's DNC speech

Her wild arm gestures and often thunderous volume instantly drew over 500,000 people to YouTube to watch replays of her speech, which was likened to the scream that foiled Howard Dean's White House dreams in 2004. "I was high on democracy," Granholm told reporters after her remarks.

One week later, she was the subject of yet another Internet sensation, when newly unearthed video showed a 19-year-old Granholm - now host of the liberal talk show "The War Room with Jennifer Granholm" on Current TV - sporting the decade's signature Farrah Fawcett-inspired mane and a pair of suspenders as a contestant on "The Dating Game" in 1978.

The top viral political moments of 2012

September 16: Rice's Benghazi talking points

In remarks that would be picked apart for months, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice appeared on CBS News' "Face the Nation" five days after the Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead, and said the strike was "spontaneous" - prompted by an inflammatory anti-Muslim video that had led to protests in Egypt - and not preplanned or premeditated. When the attack was deemed later that week to be one by extremists with linkages to al Qaeda, conservatives in Congress and across the country questioned whether Rice's language was part of a "cover-up" by the administration.

Rice, who during that time topped the short list to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, spent months fighting that notion, with Democrats rushing to her defense to say she had simply conveyed talking points constructed from the information available at the time. Still, amid continuing fire from the right - led by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. - Rice in December announced she was withdrawing her name from consideration for the position.

The top viral political moments of 2012

September 17: Romney's "47 percent"

In perhaps the most pivotal moment of the 2012 presidential election, GOP nominee Mitt Romney was unknowingly caught on tape at a private fundraiser earlier in the year saying that "47" percent of Americans will "vote for the president no matter what" because they are "dependent on government" and "believe they are victims." Video of the remarks was leaked to the left-leaning media outlet Mother Jones.

"There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it," Romney is heard saying. "These are people who pay no income tax, 47 percent of Americans who pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect." His job, he said, "is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

The top viral political moments of 2012

October 2012: Big Bird, Binders and malarkey

Following the debate, pundits critiqued Jim Lehrer's involvement - or lack thereof - in the candidates' discussion, leading to a debate on how involved moderator Candy Crowley should be in the second  debate on Oct. 16. The CNN anchor insisted she would not be a mere spectator, and lived up to that when she stepped in to defend President Obama against Mitt Romney's claim that his opponent hadn't deemed the Libya attack an act of terror until 14 days after the fact. "He did in fact, sir... He did call it an 'act of terror" in the Rose Garden the day after the attack, Crowley said - a statement which, in reality, was not so clear cut.

In that same debate, Romney inspired yet another viral moment when he referred to the "binders full of women" he said he requested when seeking to hire women to top cabinet positions during his time as Massachusetts governor. Memes aside, Romney's essential claim - that he aggressively sought out help from women's groups in recruiting female employees after discovering most of the applicants were male - inspired skepticism of its own, when it was realized that the process had been spearheaded by an independent group and was already well under way by the time he took office.

In the Oct. 11 VP debate, with his unbridled cackling and casual mockery of Paul Ryan, Vice President Joe Biden was already on his way to becoming an Internet sensation when he fueled the fire and called Ryan's claim that the president wants "space" between the United States and Israel "a bunch of stuff." Asked by moderator Martha Raddatz what "a bunch of stuff" means, Biden joked "stuff" translates to "malarkey" - a signature word the vice president used that night no fewer than three times.