.jpg)
By Johnny Kampis | Missouri Watchdog
COLUMBUS — What’s in a tweet?
Republican U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt tweeted that he was tired of Democrats asking for increases to the debt ceiling.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill asked followers to sign a petition urging Congress to shift money from construction efforts in Afghanistan to similar projects in the United States.
The Missouri senators wanted people to know those things. Well, until they didn’t.
Their tweets are among more than 3,000 Twitter posts from members of Congress in the past six months that were deleted.
Politiwoops, a website launched Wednesday by the Sunlight Foundation, collects those missing tweets and allows users to search by name. The foundation is a nonpartisan nonprofit that uses the Internet to promote government transparency.
“The archive serves as an illuminating rough draft of how politicians and campaigns hone their social media messaging and amend their record,” said Nicko Margolies, foundation communication coordinator.
The highlights included:
- A deleted tweet from Florida U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-District 1, linked to a Facebook poll asking users if they thought President Barack Obama was a natural-born citizen.
- U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, mocked Russian President Vladimir Putin after his re-election, before thinking better of it.
There’s nothing quite so scintillating from Missourians on the list.
Blunt tweeted “Enough is enough. We’re (facing) $15.2T debt & Pres Obama is asking for another debt limit hike instead of making tough choices to cut spending.”
He deleted the statement 17 minutes after posting it in January. It’s among eight on his list of tweets that were trashed.
McCaskill’s post regarding Afghanistan is the only tweet she deleted in the past six months.
Blunt’s Twitter account shows 1,540 posts and 16,180 followers, while McCaskill has posted 2,189 times and has 68,022 followers.
Missouri Watchdog could not reach neither senator for comment Friday.
Margolies said the foundation modeled Politwoops after similar versions developed in 12 other countries.
