Twitter 101: Boehner Accused of "Dishonest" Tweet

A gentle correction. From Mediate:

Speaker John Boehner broke one of the rules tenuously keeping the web from descending into anarchy and goatse .gifs by adding his own editorial stance to a re-tweet concerning health care law.

[…]

The “MT” at the front of his Tweet stands for “modified Tweet,” which his certainly was. But this is usually reserved for a Tweet that has to be shortened so as not to go over 140 characters, not one that is altered so as not have its meaning drastically changed.

People. This is like arguing on Myspace: unfruitful.

There is no Rule Book of The Webernetz which says that “Lo, Thou Shalt Only Use ‘MTs’ when thou shalt choose to Retweet the Tweet of another and they remarks exceedeth 140 characters.”

Seeing as John Boehner advertised that he was modifying a Tweet, and quite hysterically IMO, it seems a bit over-the-top to call his update “dishonest” and perhaps as “dishonest” as the action of which Boehner is accused.

Also, how is Boehner “dishonest” exactly? Compare:

Boehner added the adjective “job-crushing” and “#hcrcostsjobs.” Frankly, I thought it was a riot. Riot as in funny, not the violent mob way for which Frances Fox Piven calls.

If you think that Boehner is being “dishonest” then you think that HCR doesn’t cost jobs. We all know that this narrative was beaten into a hole in the ground. Over and over.

If people disagree with Boehner’s admittance of fact in a modified Tweet, that’s not enough of a qualifier to make someone “dishonest.” Unless, of course, we’re rolling with the Newsspeak now in which case, “uncool” is plus ungood.