Another lovely Twitter moment.
This evening I find myself in the Emirates lounge, waiting to board the 245am flight to Gatwick landing at 720am. I've read a mag, downed a few Canadian Club/Soda, played on facebook, and then turned to Twitter. To find the Twitterverse delighting in "handing the ass back" to a Republican senator from Michigan who'd decided to draw a parallel between the persecution that Iranian protestors are experiencing this week, and the drubbing that the Republicans received in Congress over something or other.
I didn't believe the initial tweet and replied to a contact. He sent me a link and it's true - this idiot actually thought that was a fair comparison. The mind boggles.
A sample of the (rather amusing) responses includes:
TPIP: hey @nancypelosi can you please tear gas @petehoekstra and beat him repeatedly with batons so he has something real to whine about? about 1 hour ago
•TahirDuckett: @petehoekstra ran through the sprinklers this morning, claimed solidarity with victims of Hurricane Katrina about 1 hour ago
• d_knox: d_knox @petehoekstra, i broke a glass today. now i know what the kristallnacht must have felt like
• _DeadBattery: All I'm saying is - imagine, time last year, someone told you that @JohnMcCain and @PeteHoekstra would be all buddy-buddy with Iranians. about 1 hour ago
• jdb: @petehoekstra I had to pay sales tax on some potato chips today... Now I know what our Founding Fathers went through. about 1 hour ago
• Mitch42: Uh No.: @petehoekstra (R - MI): "Iranian twitter activity similar to... last year when Rs were shut down in the House." #analogyfail about 1 hour ago
• ktcowen: RT @curtsmith responses to Rep.@petehoekstra comparing freedom fighters in Iran with Republicans are hilarious: http://bit.ly/Yumry (expand) about 1 hour ago
•Jdb: RT GOP Rep @petehoekstra: Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House. about 1 hour ago
• Cut_here: @petehoekstra I burned my finger this morning on a hot plate, now I know how Joan of Arc felt.. about 1 hour ago
• TahirDuckett: @petehoekstra and @johnculberson, those poor Congressmen have so much in common with disenfranchised Iranians dying for democracy. Pathetic. about 1 hour ago
•Trusloth: @petehoekstra Got a $0.25 library fine. Reminded me of debtors' prison #GOPFail about 1 hour ago
• Amysco: @petehoekstra Yep, you're just like the Iranians! I must've missed Nancy Pelosi and her army beating you with clubs... about 1 hour ago
That's just a sample. It amused me hugely. It illustrates so many of the key key key elements of any successful comms strategy - it doesn't really matter about the medium - if your message is flawed, you're fucked. Ok, so that may not be how I phrase it in training sessions, but essentially it boils down to one thing. The immediacy of the media today means that anyone in a position of responsibility immediately needs to be aware that anything they say, anywhere, will form and shape the dialogue around their particular sphere. Thus they must learn from comms pros, or work with comms pros, to decide what that message is. It's not rocket science. But it amuses me hugely that a half-brained republican senator from michigan stepped up so willingly as the sacrificial lamb to the cause. Alhumdillilah. If that's not too controversial a sign off...?
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