Wednesday morning’s edition of Mike Allen’s popular Politico Playbook newsletter included an item that simply said, “HOT HASHTAG: #VoiceTheRule.”
Eagle-eyed readers quickly noticed that the “Hot Hashtag” in Playbook hadn’t actually been used by anyone on Twitter. In an email to TPM, Allen explained the story behind his mysterious hashtag.
“It’s a reference — figurative, not literal– to how the debt-ceiling vote went down last night. By adopting the rule on voice vote, they avoided a potential procedural detour or roadblock,” Allen wrote. “People who had been at the Capitol for the vote were buzzing about it at dinner afterward, and jokingly suggested that hashtag. Part of what makes D.C. so D.C.!”
Playbook was delivered at about 9:22 A.M. Wednesday. The first tweets using the “hot” #VoiceTheRule hashtag appeared a little over 20 minutes later and expressed confusion over its inclusion in Playbook. As of this writing, all eight tweets on the #VoiceTheRule hashtag came from authors who were wondering what it all meant.
