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You are here: Home / Twitter, how does it work?

Twitter, how does it work?

by | 134 Comments

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I have a project I’d like some help with. I want to take my post-punk, rabbinical Broder shtick to twitter, start replying to every dumb principled non-partisan shit some media idiot says on twitter, and see how many of these morons thank me for the compliment, on twitter. I don’t understand how twitter works, though.

First off, do people see my replies to their tweets even if I’m not following them. Secondly, I don’t know any twitter character-reducing tricks, so how I do get this down to 140 characters?

I love your blog because you’re one of the few bipartisan centrists who realize that both sides do it, where “it” is pretty much any bad thing. You’re like the post-punk David Broder. Have you always been so fair and balanced or is it something you learn over time as journamalist?

I mean I know I can just cut parts, but is there some trick I could use? I want to make sure it stays fairly over the top.

Update. I have various forms that work now — see the comments. Who should I sent it to? Also too, feel free to send it or some variant out to the Twitosphere too. The more the merrier.

Update. I’m DougJBalloon on twitter.

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  2. 2.

    cervantes

    luv yr blog yr 1 of bipartisan centrists hu kno both sides do any bad thing. Yr post punk Dvd Broder. Hv U always been or lrnd as journamalist.

    Kind of like that, could be more elegant.

  4. 4.

    redshirt

    I just signed up for Twitter too and within thirty minutes I had a certain someone from South Carolina calling me out. It was weird.

  7. 7.

    Chat Noir

    I don’t use the Twitter thing but just want to tell you, Doug, that you totally rock.

  8. 8.

    DougJ, Head of Infidelity

    Here’s what I did so far.

    @ChuckLane1 You’re one of the few bipartisan centrists who knows both sides do it, where “it” is any bad thing. David Broder would be proud.

  9. 9.

    rumpole

    UR 1 of the few centrists who realize that both sides do the same bad things. UR the post-punk David Broder. Is being so fair and balanced something U learned over time?

    (138 characters).

  10. 10.

    Scott S.

    @redshirt: I think I must be invisible on Twitter. Doesn’t matter how often I mention people I like or make fun of people I don’t like — no one ever acts like I exist there. And it bugs me that I worry about that sometimes like it’s important. :/

  11. 11.

    srv

    I luv yr blog b/c you’re 1 of the few bipartisan centrists who realize that both sides do it, whr “it” is pretty much any bad thing. You’re lk the post-punk David Broder. Have U always bn so fair & balanced or is it something U learn ovr time as journamalist?

    I will only charge $1 per tweet.

  14. 14.

    schrodinger's cat

    Isn’t it rather sad that the highest aspiration of a Villager is to be David Broder. I mean I can’t think of a more snooze inducing personality.

  15. 15.

    kd bart

    I’m on Twitter. I do know that if I get a response to a tweet from someone I do not follow, it will show up only under the @Connect timeline. Those you follow will show up under both the Home and @Connect timelines.

  19. 19.

    redshirt

    @Scott S.: I got lucky I think as it’s been radio silence since that first half hour. It was heady times though!

    I am planning on telling the world about my lunch at approximately 1PM EDT today. Stay tuned!

  22. 22.

    kerFuFFler

    Luv ur blog cuz ur 1 who sees that both sides do “it”. Ur like a post-punk David Broder. Hav U always been so fair and balanced a journamalist?

    I did not count, but this should be close.

  25. 25.

    DougJ, Head of Infidelity

    @Steve:

    Yeah, it does.

    I think I’ve mostly got it working now. Thanks for the tips everyone!

  29. 29.

    Ronnie P

    I think you have to keep “…where “‘it’ is anything bad,” which is a big part of the joke. Maybe lose the question at the end. Remember that twitter isn’t about asking questions it’s about expressing beliefs.

  30. 30.

    mistermix

    @DougJ, Head of Infidelity: This is better than an over-abbreviated tweet. Palin types are the only ones who do the heavy abbreviation stuff. Everyone else links to something longer from Twitter if they have something more to say. Your targets won’t follow links from someone they don’t know, but I bet they’ll retweet stuff like this.

  31. 31.

    28 Percent

    You don’t have to follow them and they don’t have to follow you for them to see your reply.

    You could always do each sentence as a separate reply – it would be a shame to lose the elegance of that construction with tweetspeak.

    The downer: all of your sent tweets are collected on your own twitter page. Anybody who clicks your name on the reply to check out who this charming, flattering centrist-appreciating fellow is will be taken to your page to see that you send the same thing to everybody. To keep the joke up, you’d really need to tweet a full “centrist” personality to make sure that your twitterfeed filled with innocuous blather in between marks.

  32. 32.

    BenjaminJB

    If you @THEIR NAME, then your tweet will show up in their “mentions” page or “interactions” page.

    There are contractions and twitter-speak U cn lrn 2 use, not dissimilar to vanity license plate language.

    I think to be really over-the-top, you have to focus: You’re like David Broder’s love-child. You’re like David Broder’s zombie. You’re the second coming of David Broder here to chew gum and kick both sides’ ass and you’re all out of gum.

    But, honestly, I never quite got your interest in this sort of punking. First of all, unless the comment is really ridiculous or offensive, someone responding to you with “thanks, I model myself after David Broder” doesn’t really show anything new or change any minds. By contrast, I remember someone sending campaign donations to lots of people in the name of NAMBLA and only Bob Dole (iirc) returned the check, which was a prank that I thought wasn’t just fun.

    So, calling people David Broder-esque may amuse you, but it probably won’t get their attention because they don’t have the same vocabulary and keywords. They’ll say “thank you” and move on unless you can find the right point to needle them about that.

  35. 35.

    mistermix

    @Matt: When Greenwald was doing this I found it extremely annoying since my Twitter client didn’t expand the tweets.

  36. 36.

    Zifnab

    I hope you are happy Doug. I’m watching the English language being butchered before my very eyes. How do you sleep at night, having started this thing?

  37. 37.

    Redshift

    If you reply to someone, they can see it even if you don’t follow them. However, other than the person you’re replying to, only people who follow both of you will see it. The common way around this, to make it “public” to everyone who follows either of you, is to put a ‘.’ before the @ at the beginning.

  38. 38.

    Valdivia

    I have been lurking a lot these past weeks because I was traveling but I have to tell you Doug–the post punk shtick made me lose my italian espresso in front of the leaning tower of Pisa :)

    you are the troll extraordinaire!
    I am not even on twitter and I would follow you just to see you do this…

  39. 39.

    schrodinger's cat

    @DougJ, Head of Infidelity: You should check out H&M their clothes have a good fit, and are reasonably priced, their cotton stuff can be quite good, you have to take your time though, because they also have a lot of junk. I think summer fabrics in general are more high maintenance.

  40. 40.

    Villago Delenda Est

    What I find utterly hilarious is that the “fill-in-the-blank David Broder” meme is so resilient, in that the targets of the mocking do not have the slightest clue that they’re being mocked, because the vermin of the Village so revere the fucktard Broder. Even after it happens to their fellow Villagers. They’re so needy that they enjoy faux-compliments.

  41. 41.

    Librarian

    Paul Fussell died today. He was probably appalled at the very idea of Twitter. Hell, the entire internet probably appalled him.

  42. 42.

    Buckeye Hamburger

    ur blog rox cuz both sides suck & u say so! ur post-punk-Broder! were u always awse?

    84 characters, plenty of room for important additions like #bpartroolz & #IAMBRODER.

  43. 43.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Valdivia: So did you drop a lead ball and a feather from the top of the Leaning Tower? I hope you are having fun! I am envious.

  44. 44.

    Soonergrunt

    If you follow someone who follows your subject, that person might retweet what the target said, and you will see it. For you to reply directly to the target, you’d address it to them
    For example, when (not if) ABL tweeted something (she’s VERY prolific on twitter), and you were following me but not her, you wouldn’t see it unless I retweeted it. You’d then see it under her name, with “retweeted by soonergrunt” at the end of it. If you then replied, it would be addressed either to her or to her and me, but she would then see it.
    These are the juicers I know about:
    @angryblacklady
    @bettycrackerfl
    @johncole
    @heymistermix
    @TomLevenson
    @ZandarVTS
    And of course, me @soonergrunt

  45. 45.

    TooManyJens

    Don’t use Twitlonger. Tons of people won’t bother to click through. If you can’t get down to 140 without junking your tweet up with a lot of abbreviations, just split it up. You can put (1/2) and (2/2) at the ends of the tweets if you want to make it very clear that there are two parts.

  46. 46.

    TooManyJens

    Don’t use Twitlonger. Tons of people won’t bother to click through. If you can’t get down to 140 without junking your tweet up with a lot of abbreviations, just split it up. You can put (1/2) and (2/2) at the ends of the tweets if you want to make it very clear that there are two parts.

  47. 47.

    Phil Perspective

    @redshirt: Good grief!! George Tierney of Greenville, South Carolina, doesn’t know if he is coming or going. I think this is his 6th time he’s deleted his Twitter-twatter account only to re-activate it.

  48. 48.

    DougJ, Head of Infidelity

    @Valdivia:

    You’re in Pisa! I have spent a lot of time there. Check out the restaurant Porton Rosso if you like seafood, it’s one of my favorite seafood restaurants anywhere.

  52. 52.

    Redshift

    @mistermix: I agree. I never follow “tweetlonger” type links unless it looks really interesting. The pattern on Twitter is that you keep it to 140, or split it into a couple of tweets, or you link to a longer post somewhere. If you post a lot of tweetlongers because you can’t figure out how to be brief enough, ur doing it wrong.

  53. 53.

    Valdivia

    @DougJ, Head of Infidelity:

    I was in Pisa, sadly I’m back in DC where I’m spending time in a hospital because my dad had brain surgery yesterday. By one miracle after five hours of the surgeon tooling around his brain he one up tjis morning as if nothing had happened joking around and raising hell in the ICU. :)

    But I’m making note of that rest as I plan to go back soon. Was your time in Pisa work related or fun related?

  57. 57.

    TooManyJens

    @Redshift: I unfollowed Jesse from Pandagon for a while because most of his tweets used some kind of Twitlonger type service and it was super annoying. Fortunately he seems to have figured out how to use 140 now.

  58. 58.

    Valdivia

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Though I climbed every cathedral in Tuscany (standing of top of the Duomo in Florence is a must! even if you have to climb 500 stpes) I did not climb the tower. But it was spectacular. And I really can’t wait to go back. It was magical trip! :)

  59. 59.

    DougJ, Head of Infidelity

    @Valdivia:

    Great news about your dad. Brain surgery is absolutely amazing sometimes.

    I was in Pisa technically for work, but I had a lot of free time. I like it there a lot.

  61. 61.

    Valdivia

    @DougJ, Head of Infidelity:

    Thanks Doug, i really can’t believe how well he is doing. I also feel utterly relieved since they got all the tumor out and it’s like nothing happened except for the hole in his head. Nice to get back from the trip and have this good news as well.

    And work in Pisa sounds so lovely. I am jealous :)

  63. 63.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @redshirt:

    Nope, but I was in the Army and served on a lot of staffs. Buzz Word bingo was how we stayed sane.

  64. 64.

    Redshift

    @BenjaminJB: That’s why it’s key to include the fair&balanced and “both sides do it” bits. I agree that if you just compare them to Broder, it wouldn’t really be mocking.

  65. 65.

    geg6

    I find I have finally reached the point in my online life where I shout at the clouds and tell kids to get off my lawn. No fucking way on earth will I ever take to Twitter for anything, not even you, Doug J., much as I adore you and your troll fu. I simply cannot think of a single useful thing I’ve ever seen on Twitter (which, admittedly, has only been screenshots posted here and elsewhere) and will never be comfortable with any form of communication which limits my ability to communicate clearly in such a ridiculous fashion. It only seems to be a good option for the very stupid and very vapid. I’ll never understand its attraction to anyone with half a brain.

  66. 66.

    jayackroyd

    1) native twitter sucks. find a 3rd party client

    2) you may want to .@ your initial tweet. that sends the tweet into the recipient’s timeline, so his or her followers see the tweet. (It is a bad idea to abuse this feature. I, at least, block people who do it any other than very infrequently.)

    I agree with those who say you have to find a way to make the post fit into the 140 chars without doing things like cutting the vowels out of multiple words. Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) does a nice job of writing in 140 char English sentences if you’re looking for an example

  70. 70.

    Gin & Tonic

    @geg6: I have found Twitter useful for following the local dining scene (I like to eat out.) A lot of the young and creative chefs Tweet about new things they’re trying or fresh ingredients they’ve scored, and if I see something I like during the day I’ll go eat there at night. Works very well for that.

  74. 74.

    Bubblegum Tate

    O/T, but very funny (to me):

    So a wingnut blog decided to have a post in which it asked commenters to describe Obama and Romney in one word.

    The most popular one-word descriptions for Romney–I shit you not–are “real” and “authentic.”

    The mind boggles.

  75. 75.

    Redshift

    @geg6: You do understand that there’s a reason the screenshots posted here are all of things that are stupid out vapid, right?

    No reason to get on Twitter if you don’t want to; there are plenty of online services I don’t use even though they’re very popular. But basically there’s a use for fast-paced and slow-paced conversational media, and Twitter is a fast-paced medium. I’m on it mainly to interact with space and science fans (and for political snark) and have had great conversations with people who are neither vapid nor stupid.

  83. 83.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    Would love to see you get this passed Tapper but I think he’s a bit too on to us to not see through it.

  84. 84.

    shortstop

    Doug, if you want your new persona to be believed, kill the old tweets in which you openly take shots at these guys.

  89. 89.

    SatanicPanic

    @geg6: Twitter is great for finding food trucks, which is what I use it for. You’re not required to use it though. No one has been sent off to a Twitter gulag.

  90. 90.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Your account name should reflect your loyalty to David Broder. I suggest CorpsOfDavidBroder.

  91. 91.

    shortstop

    @SatanicPanic: I like it for the few people who are truly funny in truly succinct ways. It’s given me many a belly laugh.

    geg6, disliking Twitter, which you are of course free to do and which decision is fully understandable, does not require a defensive explanation on your part every time this topic comes up. You can, you know, just not use it. No one is checking up on you.

  92. 92.

    Bubblegum Tate

    @Cassidy:

    They have their marching orders.

    They sure do, and they definitely fall in line. The blog “officially” endorsed Newt right before he cratered spectacularly, and the second-favorite choice was Santorum. And of course, there were the dalliances with Cain, Bachmann, and all the other not-Romneys, but now, they have always loved Romney. Because he’s just so “real” and “authentic,” you see.

  93. 93.

    mazareth

    I don’t tweet, but I would get in touch with George Tierney Jr. of Greenville, SC. There seems to be a bit of a buzz around some of his offerings…

  94. 94.

    SatanicPanic

    @shortstop: Yeah, Andy Borowitz is funny, there are some other people. I don’t really follow too many people. It was also pretty handy during the OWS protests for finding out up to the minute news. It’s not the best thing ever, but it’s got its uses. I rarely check on mine and so far the Twitter police have ignored me and the hipsters I run into haven’t cast me out of polite society.

  95. 95.

    shortstop

    @mazareth: He keeps leaving, then reappearing late at night, presumably after filling up with liquid courage. I do think the guy is both painfully stupid and mentally ill. He reported in that interview that his father told him, “I am embarrassed beyond belief,” and yet he goes on…so apparently there’s no one in his life who can get him to shut up and seek medical help.

  96. 96.

    gogol's wife

    You guys are driving me crazy, because I have too much work to do to spend all day here reading your hilarious threads. I will say that Twitter is good for generating comedy for those of us who still don’t understand it and will never use it. I still think it’s funny, even if I don’t get it. It reminds me of Oulipo — experimental literature that sets itself impossible hurdles, like writing a whole novel without the letter “e.”

  98. 98.

    MCA1

    Is the goal here to get to the point where there’s a new meme about being “Brodertwittered” or something? I mean, eventually, if DougJ’s trying to make a difference, the people being mocked need to know they’ve been mocked, right? Is DougJ going to be the Ali G of the Twitterverse? It is a great inside joke for the time being, though. Good luck! I’d say I’ll follow your tweets, but I’m still too much of a luddite to be on there.

  99. 99.

    geg6

    @Redshift:

    I just can’t imagine what type of “great” conversation you can possibly have in 140 characters. Like I said, Twitter finally led me to my “old” moment. Everything I’ve seen of it repels me in a very visceral way. I hate how it has taken over and I see it as a sign that we are just getting more and more stupid and shallow.

    Now get off my lawn, you kids.

  100. 100.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    If I were you, I’d contact George Tierney of Greenville, South Carolina. George Tierney of Greenville, South Carolina is aware of all internet traditions, and George Tierney of Greenville, South Carolina may be able tell you about how to avoid the helicopters.

    So good luck, DougJ, and give our best regards to George Tierney of Greenville, South Carolina.

  105. 105.

    geg6

    @shortstop:

    I don’t feel defensive about not liking Twitter at all. I’m just explaining my feelings about it. I’d really like someone to come up with a reason for me to like it. I generally adopt most new social media with no complaints. I’ve been watching the “Twitter revolution” for a while now and can’t understand it. I feel like I’m watching a bunch of space aliens say stupid or completely incomprehensible things. I don’t see it as a very effective way of communicating and would love for someone to show me that I’m wrong. I guess I can see using it for stuff like food trucks (in cities where they have them!) or to find where a band you like is playing or what your favorite chef has on the menu tonight. But you can use any number of other forms of communication and social media to find that out. I just don’t get it. And I don’t get “following” nor can I even begin to parse what all the symbols, hash tags, etc. attached to the messages add to the messages. It just makes them impossible to read or understand who is talking. I think that level of complication on a forum that limits you to 140 characters is insane.

    Show me why I’m wrong. That’s all I’m asking. If I find it convincing, I’ll be happy to own up to being completely wrong about it.

  107. 107.

    gogol's wife

    @geg6:

    You are absolutely right, and no one is going to be able to refute what you say. (Not snark.)

  108. 108.

    slag

    @shortstop: That IS good news! The NAACP really did the right thing by holding their vote on that shortly after Obama’s announcement. That’s the way we stick together. And I love this statement on the subject:

    “The mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure political, social and economic equality of all people,” Board Chairwoman Roslyn M. Brock said in a statement. “We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law.”

    Equality is not a zero-sum game. Everyone benefits when everyone benefits.

  109. 109.

    Cassidy

    @geg6: I don’t use it myself, but I can see you’re overthinking it. There is nothing complex about twitter; nothing at all. Some people say funny things. Some business’s let you know what’s going on and/or where they are and if they’re having some sort of special. It’s not meant for anything beyond pushing information out very quickly to as many people as possible. It’s also a lot like Blogspot in that 99.9% of the people on it are damn near useless and muttering about how big a turd their dog left on the front lawn that morning. Think of it as mass texting.

    Fortunately, most of the people I would follow on twitter write on blogs or post their tweets to FB, so I don’t need to know. Other are rounded up in a nice column after a particularly good fight card.

  110. 110.

    shortstop

    @geg6: Got no need or desire to convince you and I don’t think you’re “wrong”–except, insofar as you admit that you’ve only seen screenshots, which, as someone points out above, tend to be the most outrageously stupid stuff (at least on political blogs), your experience is quite limited.

    I just don’t get the need to keep telling people here how much you don’t like it. (Am I misremembering that you’ve said this several times now?) It makes it seem like you’re trying to convince others of your own view. Isn’t continuing to not use it enough?

  112. 112.

    TooManyJens

    @geg6:

    I don’t feel defensive about not liking Twitter at all.

    I believe you. In fact, you seem to be on the offensive about it. When it comes up, you have to go out of your way to tell people how fucking stupid they are for using this service that they find valuable and you admittedly know almost nothing about. Which is kind of a dickish way to spend your time, but whatever. This is the Balloon Juice comments section, after all.

  113. 113.

    kc

    After ur tweets get noticed, start demanding that other ppl take them off google unless they want to pay u in court!

  114. 114.

    shortstop

    @slag: Nicely put.

    @kc: Of everything that was said in that trainwreck, “take me off google” will have the most enduring comedic value. Even though the dude is azycray.

  115. 115.

    MomSense

    Hey, off topic here but apparently not enough Oakeshott was consumed in the Widener Library for succor because Sully wanted “to cut his own heart out with a dull knife” after reading the transcript of the Halperin Romney interview.

    Safe to assume that the word dick was not uttered.

  116. 116.

    SatanicPanic

    @Cassidy:

    Think of it as mass texting.

    Yeah, that’s pretty much it in a nutshell- this is going on, check it out- there’s been a last minute change of schedule- I read this, it’s interesting, etc. It’s just like a stripped down Facebook. I personally rarely use Twitter, but it has its place. And I don’t think its made people any dumber than they already were.

  120. 120.

    lol

    Might be interesting to create a twitter bot, have the account follow a ton of people (many of whom will automatically follow back), get lots of BJers here to follow the account and have it just automatically retweet tweets from people on a “centrist” list. Then once a day, tweet at a random centrist how much they’re like the bi-sexual david broder or whatever and retweet any replies.

  121. 121.

    Soonergrunt

    @SatanicPanic:

    No one has been sent off to a Twitter gulag.

    That’s actually a current meme among right winger twitter users.
    A bunch of them were spamming Charles Johnson’s twitter with really abusive foul shit, so he was reporting them as such. Well, after a couple of them had their accounts blocked by twitter, because other users were reporting them for the same, they began this huge conspiracy theory that Johnson was working with Twitter to hunt them down and consign them to some kind of “twitter gulag”.
    It was every bit as pathetic and hilarious as it sounds.

  123. 123.

    Robert waldmann

    @cervantes: tweets Not ‘lowed 2 b elegant. Elegant’s 2 pre-punk. Probs is hrd 2 miss irony of journamalism if has 2 many syllbs & all else 2 few. Course amazing was missed when rest typd n nglish even.

    Or was it ? Petri seems 2 have sense of humor. Laughing at us ? Not as hrad as we R laughing at her anyway.

  124. 124.

    geg6

    @shortstop:

    I just don’t get the need to keep telling people here how much you don’t like it. (Am I misremembering that you’ve said this several times now?) It makes it seem like you’re trying to convince others of your own view. Isn’t continuing to not use it enough?

    I guess it does come off that way, but I’m really just trying to understand it. I’ve clicked on people’s Twitter streams (is that the word?), tried to read them, and still don’t “get” it. And there really IS a lot of stupid stuff from what I can tell.

    This comment makes a lot of sense though:

    t’s also a lot like Blogspot in that 99.9% of the people on it are damn near useless and muttering about how big a turd their dog left on the front lawn that morning. Think of it as mass texting.

    I’m not very big on texting either. A quick message to say I’ll be late or I’m on my way or would you like me to pick up lunch and that’s about all the good I get out of texting. So I guess that I’m really NOT missing anything about Twitter if that is what it’s about. I kept thinking that I was missing something about it since so many people I like use it so much (Cole, ABL, etc.). But it really isn’t anything great or with any deeper meaning that I wasn’t understanding and I can just use text messaging or email or Facebook or an actual phone call for the same purposes and not be hemmed in by the crazy 140 character limit or completely incomprehensible symbols. Still don’t get why it’s such a craze among adults, but I can imagine my 17-year-old niece loving it. She announces every time she breathes to everyone she knows via text or FB or both, so I’m sure she’s already addicted.

  126. 126.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    You’re going to be flagged as a spammer if you keep posting the same two or three canned messages over and over.

  127. 127.

    Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor

    @geg6:

    I guess it does come off that way, but I’m really just trying to understand it.

    I actually much prefer Twitter to Facebook. But I’m not an aggressively social type: I mostly use it as a news aggregator (as JoyfulA points out, news really does tend to break there first).

    BTW, any recommendations from folks here as to best twitter app for iPhone? The native built-in is ok. I used to use TweetDeck on Android but it was a little flaky (it liked filling up my entire SD card with data, among other issues).

    @MachineCellLab

  128. 128.

    geg6

    @Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor:

    I actually much prefer Twitter to Facebook. But I’m not an aggressively social type

    Neither am I, but I find FB useful for getting in contact with my students and I also keep up with far flung friends and family on it. I’m not on it every single day, but it has its uses for keeping up with people you don’t see much.

  129. 129.

    bottyguy

    my only suggestion if your new to twitter is: Sarcasm and maybe snark doesn’t translate well to 140 characters. It usually ends up sounding mean and dickish. So be careful out there.

  130. 130.

    Sentient Puddle

    @geg6: Brevity in any form of communication is good practice. You can accomplish a lot within 140 characters.

  131. 131.

    Woodrow L. Goode, IV

    I’m good at Web Haiku, and this is my take:

    Few bipartisan centrists see both sides do it (whatever “it” is). You’re the new David Broder: fair & balanced; great journamalist!

    Gives you 9 characters to address. If you need a few more characters, use “C” for “see” and “Fair&Balanced”.

  133. 133.

    ronin122

    Looks like you got yourself a bite there. Congrats! Too bad I never heard of that idiot (I presume he’s an idiot)

  134. 134.

    dncroc

    used Doug’s comment on the latest Ruth Marcus crap-fest at the WaPo and the biggest response was getting yelled at by a fellow liberal for embracing false equivalences. does it need to be snarkier?

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