Sunday, November 11, 2012

Twitter and politics

There appears to be a new political trend - a politician say something in a public forum, and then takes it back later - often almost immediately - on twitter.

This was very much in evidence during the Romney presidential campaign, where Romney would make a centrist statement in a speech or interview, and his campaign would then contradict it on twitter.

House Speaker Boehner just did the same thing.ABC News reports:

Boehner to Diane Sawyer on Repealing Obamacare – “Well, I think the election changes that.  It’s pretty clear that the president was reelected, Obamacare– is the law of the land.  I think there are parts– of– the healthcare law that– are gonna be very difficult to implement.  And very expensive.  And as– the time when we’re tryin’ to find a way to create a path– toward a balanced budget—everything has to be on the table.”
Sawyer: But you won’t be spending the time next year trying to repeal Obamacare?
Boehner: There certainly may be parts of it that we believe– need to be changed.  We may do that.  No decisions at this point.

His follow-up Tweet – @SpeakerBoehner ObamaCare is law of the land, but it is raising costs & threatening jobs. Our goal has been, and will remain,#fullrepeal.

Let's see how far this goes.