Twits On Twitter: The GOP Strikes Out

by: Paul Rosenberg

Sun Jun 07, 2009 at 21:30


Week before last it was Newt Gingrich tweeting, "White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw."  A week later, on his website, Newt wrote:

The word "racist" should not have been applied to Judge Sotomayor as a person,

as if some stranger had done it, not Newt himself.

Today, it was Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, usually regarded as one of the few non-insane Republicans on Capitol Hill, making a fool of himself on Twitter:

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley... issued two angry "tweets" Sunday morning as the president wrapped up an overseas tour.

For months Obama had left the details of health care legislation to Congress, then inserted himself firmly into the debate in recent days, including using his weekly radio address Saturday to declare "it's time to deliver" on health reform.

Grassley's first tweet: "Pres Obama you got nerve while u sightseeing in Paris to tell us 'time to deliver' on health care. We still on skedul/even workinWKEND."

A short time later: "Pres Obama while u sightseeing in Paris u said 'time to delivr on healthcare' When you are a 'hammer' u think evrything is NAIL I'm no NAIL."

Old habits die hard, I guess. The Republicans had a good long run snarling at everyone and everything in sight. It's pitch perfect for talk radio or cable TV.  But it's not 1994 or even 2001 anymore.  And Twitter is not Faux News.  You don't impress or intimidate anyone when you strike a belligerent pose on Twitter for no good reason whatsoever, except that you're a one-trick pony and that's your trick; you just come across as a petulant twit.  Which, of course, you are.

Asked to respond to Grassley's Twitter commentary, White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said: "President Obama is gratified that the Senate is working hard to bring a health reform bill to the floor on schedule. He looks forward to continuing his work with them upon his return from the commemoration of Allied heroism at D-Day."

Oh yeah!  Adulthood.  I read about that somewhere.

It wasn't on Twitter.

Paul Rosenberg :: Twits On Twitter: The GOP Strikes Out

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Twits On Twitter: The GOP Strikes Out | 11 comments
I also was amused (4.00 / 1)
by Grassley's Twittering today. He's been pretty touchy on the health care issue lately.

My all-time favorite Grassley tweet is still this one.  

Join the Iowa progressive community at Bleeding Heartland.

if you're going to publicly criticize the US President (4.00 / 3)
at least use complete sentences and don't use idiotic internet abbreviations.  Seriously, how can anyone take you seriously if you write like this:

"Pres Obama you got nerve while u sightseeing in Paris to tell us 'time to deliver' on health care. We still on skedul/even workinWKEND."

This sounds like a 12 year old, not a sitting US Senator.

Limitations of the format... (0.00 / 0)
140 characters isn't a lot... I chafe when I have to use the abbreviations for text messages...  I have to believe that SMS is ruining our kids' grammer...

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
[ Parent ]
That's Just It (4.00 / 3)
Knowing the limitations of the form, you know you're going to look like a snot-nosed kid going in.  So if you've got the brains of someone older than 12, you won't go there.


"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3
[ Parent ]
maybe he should have chosen a different format (4.00 / 6)
that would have been less idiotic - perhaps interpretive dance or cross-stitch.
[ Parent ]
But, twitter is the key.... (4.00 / 1)
...to closing the GOP technology deficit!!!

They really are banking it all on this thing.... and I can't blame them... 140 characters is perfect for a party that relies on short soundbytes repeated ad nauseum....

Problem is, Goopers don't know when to keep their mouth shut, in real life or on the internet... so, they end up looking like a "twit" on twitter!  Just like with talk radio, they think that only the people in their "private club" are tuned in... So, they make extreme gaffes all the time on the new format, 'cos they can't help themselves...

They lost control of the Virginia Senate over an inappropriate tweet....  The GOP needs to develop more of a poker face if they want to use this format right...  I doubt they can... they just cannot control themselves...

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

[ Parent ]
I correct my 12-year-old niece when she writes like that (4.00 / 1)
I'm sorry, but someone has got to tell these politicians that just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Twitter... really? I mean you're 80 -- not gonna reclaim your youth or reach the younger voters through fly-by-night technology. So when the next craze is only "twittering" with emoticons are we going to be stuck with 10 character exclamations like: :-/, :-{0, and :-# ad nauseum. There's just something creepy about an octogenarian trolling twitter...
[ Parent ]
Was it actually Grassley or some idiot staffer? (4.00 / 3)
Also, Newt did a wonderful impersonation of himself on Face the Nation this morning, going on about how Sotomayor is just barely qualified to be on SCOTUS and has a proven record of being radically pro-racial bias in judging on the court. How dare she enforce Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as intended and as ruled upon for the past 40 years if it disadvantages a white man! Latina Racist! She's a gonna castrate us all!

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything...Mankind are forever destined to be the dupes of bold & cunning imposture" -- Alexander Hamilton
It was he... (4.00 / 1)
I read somewhere that he confirmed that he wrote it...

He's a real loose cannon... a few months ago, Grassly went out and insulted another senator by insinuating that he slept with the other senator's wife!

Only Republicans get away with that crap....

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

[ Parent ]
You know (4.00 / 1)
as much foot-in-mouth disease as Grassley's developed and considering his high profile opposition to popular healthcare reform, I wouldn't be surprised if we see his approval rating fall.  Hopefully Iowa Democrats scare up someone decent to take this guy on.  If he keeps going as he is, I don't think reelection in a swing state is a given.

Check out Blue Arkansas:
http://bluearkansas.blogspot.com/
Ha! (0.00 / 0)
That's hilarious.  I can't believe how stuff like Twitter and iphone apps have become so political.  I have one iphone app called White House Brief that I highly recommend (it's on http://www.iheartradio.com) and that's enough for me.  It really is funny, though, to see politicians fumble with all of this modern technology.
Twits On Twitter: The GOP Strikes Out | 11 comments





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