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View Full Version : How Twitter Helped Drive Rand Paul's Filibuster To The National Stage [must read]




jct74
03-07-2013, 01:50 AM
this is a really good article, take a few minutes to read it. the authors really underscore the magnitude of this event as an important moment for both Rand Paul and the GOP.


How Twitter Helped Drive Rand Paul's Filibuster To The National Stage

“Twitter is woven through the DNA of this filibuster, taking an obscure legislative process into the public space,” GOP strategist Rick Wilson says.

John Stanton and Rebecca Berg
March 7, 2013 at 1:57am EST

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr02/2013/3/7/1/enhanced-buzz-12874-1362637969-4.jpg


WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul's nearly 13 hour long filibuster could mark a key turning point not only in the Kentucky Republican's meteoric political career, but for a Republican Party that has struggled to find any footing since November's electoral defeats.

Fueled in large part by support from a Twitter political class that flexed its muscles on policy issues, Republicans rallied around Paul in a way that hasn't been seen on the national stage in years and could provide a glimmer of hope for a listless party.

"There was a hell of a lot of team play tonight," a senior GOP leadership aide said Thursday morning, acknowledging that Paul's filibuster had given the GOP a much needed jolt of energy. "Everybody's in a three-point stance, helmets on and ready to fight," the aide said.

...

But throughout the filibuster, and the media and public uproar it caused, Twitter was driving force behind much of the momentum that helped power Paul and the pressure on his colleagues to join in.

...

Although he wasn't able to check Twitter, television or any other media, it was clear Paul himself was beginning to grasp the enormity of his effort in the public sphere minutes after the filibuster was over.

...

According to several GOP aides, a number of Senate Republicans, who had initially dismissed Paul's filibuster as futile gesture, were swayed into coming to the floor to demonstrate their support for CSPAN's cameras in no small part because of local and national twitter pressure campaigns organized by Tea Party groups and other conservatives.

...

read more:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/how-twitter-helped-drive-rand-pauls-filibuster-to-the-nation

american.swan
03-07-2013, 02:43 AM
Good read.

eleganz
03-07-2013, 03:04 AM
Senate Republicans, who had initially dismissed Paul's filibuster as futile gesture, were swayed into coming to the floor to demonstrate their support for CSPAN's cameras in no small part because of local and national twitter pressure campaigns organized by Tea Party groups and other conservatives.

Tea party and conservatives...eh? totally forgot a certain group that is always watching, tweeting, and posting about Rand............

Aratus
03-07-2013, 01:07 PM
he's just become the robert taft of the internet generation for all practical purposes...

FSP-Rebel
03-07-2013, 01:19 PM
One of the most amazing things to come out of this in my mind is that Paul went into this w/o planning on going the distance and was just trying to bring attention to an issue that now is proven to be important to Americans across the board. Furthermore, the man had no idea he was creating a flash flood in the galaxy and that Patriots from all over the country were hanging on to his every word, barraging Senate staff with calls (including his own w/ thx) and taking his filibuster up the charts on Twitter WORLDWIDE. #LibertyIsRising

Brian4Liberty
03-07-2013, 02:45 PM
This was historic for it's use of Twitter.

Of course the media is obsessed with spin and attempting to make Rand look bad, so the Twitter angle is ignored (OP excepted).

fr33
03-07-2013, 02:51 PM
Well I do like to think that my ranting on twitter does something. Lol

D.A.S.
03-07-2013, 03:15 PM
Senate Republicans, who had initially dismissed Paul's filibuster as futile gesture, were swayed into coming to the floor to demonstrate their support for CSPAN's cameras in no small part because of local and national twitter pressure campaigns organized by Tea Party groups and other conservatives.

The GOP establishment is so obtuse and out of touch that they failed to see the brilliant opportunity to rally around Rand's filibuster from the beginning. A bunch of them came in toward the end, and Priebus sent out the rally call somewhere in the 11th hour (literally?), but this is another example how the GOP establishment just keeps shooting itself in the foot. Had they rallied earlier, it could have been a glorious lovefest for the GOP on the floor of the Senate.

But I'm happy it happened the way it did because Rand got much more of the spotlight and ended up making more of an impact and showing himself as a leader and an excellent communicator.

Brian4Liberty
03-07-2013, 03:40 PM
Well I do like to think that my ranting on twitter does something. Lol

Everyone needs to get Twitter, more so than FaceBook. It is becoming an important political tool.

georgiaboy
03-07-2013, 03:45 PM
does twitter allow anonymity?

ican'tvote
03-07-2013, 03:56 PM
does twitter allow anonymity?
I believe so.

fr33
03-07-2013, 04:26 PM
does twitter allow anonymity?

Yes. Unlike Facebook, twitter's rules don't require a real name.

TomtheTinker
03-07-2013, 04:43 PM
Face book wants a picture of my girls license to access her account.