Meme at a gallop: 'Horses and bayonets' storm the Internet

A mocking retort by Barack Obama during the presidential debate with Mitt Romney has become an instant Internet hit. Users of a variety of social networks galloped headlong into jokes about horses and bayonets as fast as the Web could post them.

The remark came during Monday night’s 90-mitute face-off between candidates, the third and final presidential debate. Romney blasted Obama for being ‘weak’ on military issues, arguing that the US Navy “is smaller now than at any time since 1917.”“Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed,” Obama responded. “We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.”It was the most-tweeted moment of the debate, generating 105,767 tweets per minute, while the hashtag #horsesandbayonets trended immediately, becoming the third top trend worldwide. The phrase was also the most-searched term on Google.On Facebook, users created more than 50 pages named ‘Horses and Bayonets.’ A Tumblr account named ‘Horse and Bayonet’ also went online in a matter of moments, as did parody Twitter accounts like ‘Obama’s Bayonets.’Most of the memes put Obama, Romney, horses and bayonets in the same context, or in a variety of combinations. Some were more skeptical about the meme. “When bayonets get more attention than predator drones in 2012…ya know your country is in some trouble. Where art thou Founding Fathers?” wrote a Twitter user.