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  April 28, 2009, 9:03 am

Thompson: Specter would've gotten his 'fanny beat'

By Eric Zimmermann
Fred Thompson's reaction to the Specter switch:
fredthompsonWell, I was gonna get my fanny beat! http://tinyurl.com/daaca4 Post ur feelings on Specter Site: http://tinyurl.com/34fz9t #ftrs #tcot
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  April 28, 2009, 8:31 am

Specter switch shocks Dem colleagues

By Michael O'Brien
Sen. Arlen Specter's announcement that he would switch parties to pursue reelection as a Democrat drew surprise quickly from his Democratic Senate colleagues.

A one-word response characterized Democrats' response: "Wow."

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) tweeted:
Specter to switch parties? Wow.


Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) shortly followed up:
Whoa, Arlen Specter is switching to Democratic Party after three decades in GOP


The surprise announcement was met with shock well beyond the walls of Congress, however. Tweets from bloggers, pundits, and journalists all expressed surprise at the announcement today.

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  April 28, 2009, 7:44 am

The next NYC fly-over meme

By Eric Zimmermann
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hints of a new line of attack on the NYC fly-over blowup:
SenJohnMcCainAir Force One flight over NYC, how much $ did it cost the taxpayers? Stay tuned...

We didn't have to wait long. ABC's Jake Tapper tweets a link to his report on the matter:
waxman 2006 report sez costs more than $50k an hour to fly AF1 http://tinyurl.com/cn9j7l

The report, it turns out, "assumes that flight operating costs are $56,518 per hour for Air Force One."
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  April 28, 2009, 6:26 am

Foxx asks: W.W.J.A.D.?

By Michael O'Brien
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) wondered aloud Tuesday on her Twitter page: W.W.J.A.D.? (What would John Adams do?)

Foxx tweeted:
How might John Adams have thought about this year's budget? http://tinyurl.com/d9t6oa


Of course, America's second president isn't available to answer any questions, but actor Paul Giamatti always is:

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  April 28, 2009, 5:58 am

NOM teams up with Miss California

By Eric Zimmermann
Hm, this is interesting. The National Organization for Marriage, the most active organization fighting the recent gay marriage decisions, is meeting with Miss California. NOM just tweeted:
Maggie: I'm in San Diego, waiting to have breakfast with Miss Calif.

"Maggie" is Maggie Gallagher, President of NOM and blogger at The Corner. Coincidentally, here's what Gallagher blogged last week:
Perez "You dumb b-tch" Hilton is typical of the new face of the gay-marriage movement in America. (Joining Frank "you are all bigots" Rich among others). And I would like to nominate Miss California as the new face of the marriage movement. Much better than mine! "Truth and love will prevail over lies and hate."

Maybe Miss California is taking NOM up on the offer. Will she go on a whistle-stop tour with Orson Scott Card?
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  April 28, 2009, 5:46 am

Is Sen. McCaskill in hot water?

By Michael O'Brien
We'd like to congratulate Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on another year of wedded bliss, a fact she admitted she almost forgot about last night.

McCaskill tweeted past 10:00 p.m. last night:
Yikes, I almost forgot . Today was my Anniversary. 7 Years. Happy Anniversary to Joe, the most patient and kind man on the planet.
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  April 27, 2009, 6:45 pm

McCaskill's defense of Twitter

By Eric Zimmermann
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is coming to Twitter's defense.

Last week, Matt Bai wrote a piece for the NY Times indicting Twitter as a political tool. Too many politicians, Bai says, use Twitter to share the trivial aspects of their daily lives:
The clear leader in this field is Claire McCaskill, Missouri's junior senator, who took up Twitter just before the inauguration. "I get old style crunchy taco, and a chicken burrito supreme & Diet Coke at Taco Bell," McCaskill recently tweeted. "Miss those tostados." Then: "Ok, ok, brain freeze. I know you can only get Diet Pepsi at Taco Bell." Give McCaskill credit: she clearly does the tweeting herself, and she shares both her policy positions and the details of her daily life in a way that can be informative and oddly endearing. And yet at times McCaskill, like just about all devoted tweeters, can sound like Tom Hanks in that movie on the island, jabbering to his battered volleyball so as not to lose touch with his own existence.

Ouch. McCaskill, probably the Senate's most prolific tweeter, defended herself today. She tweeted (of course) a link to her blog, where she posted a justification of Twitter as a tool for political outreach.
After reading Matt Bai's piece in the New York Times Magazine yesterday, I'd like to explain why I tweet and post here on Tumblr. His thesis is that twitter is banal and superficial and therefore not a good fit within the context of politics and Congressional activity. Of the 100's of tweets that my thumbs are responsible for, he chose to highlight a reply I made to someone who had asked about my favorite meal at Taco Bell. Admittedly, this is definitely not important stuff.

But--like many in Washington--he misses the point.

First, through Twitter, on a daily basis I post information on a public bulletin board about serious public policy issues. Short and sweet, these messages are intended to drive thought and discussion rather than provide a thorough analysis of the issue.

Read the rest of McCaskill's post here.
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  April 27, 2009, 12:52 pm

Grassley wants more pork

By Michael O'Brien
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wants you to know that he loves pork.

No, not government spending for his home state, but rather, the currently more fearful pork: the kind that has spawned the deadly swine flu.

Grassley tweeted Monday:
U can't get swine flu fr eating pork. Eatup. Regardless of epidemic


Of course, Iowa is the largest producer of pork in the United States, even playing host to the annual World Pork Expo. This year's expo (Get excited!) takes place June 3-5, 2009, at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.
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  April 27, 2009, 11:59 am

Kos on GOP irony

By Eric Zimmermann
Kos thinks unintended disasters demonstrate GOP follies:
markosmCreepy how everything conservatives mock becomes necessary -- volcano monitoring, Pandemic preparedness, monitoring of unstable vets...

Bobby Jindal had mocked funding for volcano monitoring a few weeks before Mt. Redoubt in Alaska erupted. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) had opposed pandemic flu preparedness in the stimulus package. (So did Chuck Schumer). Not sure what Kos is referring to with unstable vets, but could be this.
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  April 27, 2009, 10:28 am

Fred Barnes threatens to make Twitter go 'boom'

By Michael O'Brien
Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred Barnes hinted Monday at a development that could inflame liberal Twitter users: getting the magazine's editor-in-chief William Kristol on Twitter.

Barnes tweeted Monday:
Here is Bill Kristol's latest piece - http://tinyurl.com/ct4lf2 - Who wants to see my colleague Bill Kristol on twitter?


Kristol's work, especially in the past year as a columnist for the New York Times, has been a bete noire for liberal bloggers.

We'd be curious to find out how @MattYglesias and @MarkosM would react.
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