Txtng Rulerz!

Jesse Walker | February 25, 2009

Dana Milbank mocks lawmakers for posting pensees to Twitter during Obama's speech last night:

"One doesn't want to sound snarky, but it is nice not to see Cheney up there," Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) announced as Obama entered the chamber.

"I did big wooohoo for Justice Ginsberg," Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) broadcast, misspelling the name of the ailing Supreme Court justice. McCaskill could be seen applauding with BlackBerry in one hand.

"Capt Sully is here -- awesome!" announced Rep. John Culberson (R-Tex.), spotting the US Airways pilot in the gallery.

Then there was Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), in whose name this text message was sent at about the time the president spoke of the need to pull the country together: "Aggie basketball game is about to start on espn2 for those of you that aren't going to bother watching pelosi smirk for the next hour." A few minutes later, another message came through: "Disregard that last Tweet from a staffer."

Milbank thinks this makes Congress look like "a support group for adults with attention-deficit disorder." And I suppose that's true, but it does enrich the documentary record, doesn't it? How many historians have a real-time report on the aimless thoughts passing through a legislature's heads? Barton -- sorry, Barton's staffer -- just ensured his immortality.