Tweet Fighters: John McCain vs. Earl Blumenenaur
March 3, 2009, 10:33pm
Throw a bunch of fiery politicians into the powder keg that is the Internet and it’s only a matter of time before something explodes. And so it was today on Twitter, when Sen. John McCain posted to the mini-blog service his latest Top 10 list decrying wasteful “pork” projects in the omnibus spending bill now before Congress.
The Arizona Republican posted his first anti-pork list under the Twitter name @SenJohnMcCain late last week, calling attention to projects like $650,000 for beaver management and $1.7 million for pig odor research. He brought the Top 10 list “back by popular demand” the first two days of this week. The project in the No. 1 slot today: “$951,500 for the Oregon Solar Highway.”
That dishonor didn’t sit well with Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, whose home state stands to benefit from the earmark. Tweeting as @repblumenauer, he mocked McCain.
“McCain wasn’t familiar with a Blackberry [during the 2008 presidential campaign], right?” tweeted Blumenauer, who quickly issued a press release celebrating earmarks for Oregon when the House passed its version of the spending bill last week. “How’s he supposed to understand a solar highway utilizing right-of-way to generate solar power?”
McCain is known for a fiery temper, but he’s obviously got nothing on Blumenauer.
Blumenauer, by the way, also had this to tweet about Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal last week after Jindal delivered the GOP response to President Barack Obama’s address to Congress: “Jindal is weird. I can’t believe Jindal. Such a sad contrast with President. Doesn’t even look or sound good, to say nothing about content.”
I have a feeling it won’t be long before some lawmaker has to issue a public apology for something he or she says on Twitter.
Categories: Arizona, Louisiana, Oregon, Technology, Sen. John McCain, Energy, Budget, Earl Blumenauer, Bobby Jindal, Hill Tweet News
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March 4th, 2009 at 9:10 am
[…] In times past, the passions of politics led Senators to soaring oratory and physical violence. Rep. Preston Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumner nearly to death with a cane in 1856, to use a rather extreme and notable example, over the latter’s supposedly coarse rejection of slavery and insults towards those who advocated for it. These days, the soaring oratory comes out more like sound bites, and now that Congress has discovered Twitter, even those may disappear. Danny Glover reports from the virtual front of the tweet war between John McCain and Earl Blumenauer: The Arizona Republican posted his first anti-pork list under the Twitter name @SenJohnMcCain late last week, calling attention to projects like $650,000 for beaver management and $1.7 million for pig odor research. He brought the Top 10 list “back by popular demand” the first two days of this week. The project in the No. 1 slot today: “$951,500 for the Oregon Solar Highway.” […]
March 4th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
[…] So Senators using Twitter are giving constituents a peak behind conference doors. Evidently, it’s unpleasant. Not surprising. A room full of politicians….anyway. Here’s the kerfluffle as reported by AirCongress: The Arizona Republican posted his first anti-pork list under the Twitter name @SenJohnMcCain late last week, calling attention to projects like $650,000 for beaver management and $1.7 million for pig odor research. He brought the Top 10 list “back by popular demand” the first two days of this week. The project in the No. 1 slot today: “$951,500 for the Oregon Solar Highway.” […]