Way back during the Republican primaries, presidential candidate and creepy son-maker Mitt Romney once famously declared his love for firing people. Today, a report from the New York Times clarifies Romney's definition of fireable people as anyone who he has not worked with closely (i.e. played at least one round of golf with).

In particular, the article mentions a moment during Romney's 2008 presidential campaign where it was clear he needed to fire someone:

The solution seemed obvious: Mr. Romney needed to step in, untangle the egos and eliminate somebody. But he did not act. "The problem should have been resolved," Mr. van Lohuizen said. "It wasn't. He would have better off had it been.

Colleagues from every phase of his career said that Mr. Romney loathes pushing out people with whom he works closely and will do just about anything to avoid it - an approach that has inspired deep loyalty to him even as it has raised questions about his ability to make tough personnel calls, as presidents inevitably must. (Mr. Obama, for instance, is on his third chief of staff.)

Mitt Romney, it turns out, does not have any trouble firing people who answer his phone. His political adviser and friend Rob Gray recalls that he once asked whether they needed to spend $32,000 on a receptionist. "Couldn't we just have a voice mail system?" he said.

To which Rob Gray almost certainly replied: "Then who would organize all those binders full of women?"

[NYT; image via AP]