Politicians, they’re just like us! While you’re half-watching the State Of The Union and half-watching that Hulu clip on the laptop in front of you tonight, House partisan groups will be multitasking, too — Republicans and Democrats plan to launch a rapid response war tonight that will see a torrent of tweets, texts and emails attacking one another before, during and after President Obama’s address to the nation.
Both parties bill the effort as “fact checking,” countering the partisan rhetoric of the other with the “truth” about what Obama is saying. House Republican leader John Boehner will host the GOP’s rapid response effort on his official Twitter feed, @GOPLeader. According to statement, the Boehner operation will “discuss Republicans’ better solutions to the challenges working families and small business owners are facing” during and after the speech. The DCCC is offering the Democratic response, through a social media blitz they call “Fact Check Fox” that they say will counter conservative pundits on TV after the speech in real time.
“You will receive rapid response fact check text alerts and a direct line to our Rapid Response team to tell us when you see Republican pundits and Members of Congress twisting the truth,” DCCC executive director John Vogel said in an email announcing the service to the organization’s 4 million-strong mailing list today. The DCCC plan calls on Democrats to join in the effort and send in their “Fact Check Fox reports” to a special website the group launched for tonight’s speech whenever they see spin from conservative pundits they don’t like.
The NRCC is offering a similar program. The group is encouraging viewers to participate in a “video chat” about the speech with Republican members of Congress immediately after the address is over.
While viewers and partisan groups may be tweeting up a storm outside of the House chamber tonight, it’s likely that the audience in the room will be among the only ones with their Blackberries kept firmly in the “off” position. A few lawmakers tried tweeting during Obama’s first speech to a joint session of Congress back in February and were roundly rebuked by the press. Since then, only Joe Wilson has offered a spontaneous outburst of opinion from the floor during a presidential address.
