Doh! Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich), Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, announced his arrival in Iraq on Friday through his Twitter account. Problem was, the trip was supposed to be secret.
(Jake Turcotte)Photos (1 of 1)
Ooops! Congressman leaks secret Iraq trip on Twitter
By Jimmy Orr | 02.08.09
Who says Republicans are technological Neanderthals?
Michigan Congressman Pete Hoekstra on Friday showed just how hip he is by twittering his arrival in Iraq.
“Just landed in Baghdad,” he wrote. “I believe it may be the first time I’ve had BlackBerry service in Iraq.”
Oops
Problem is, it was a secret trip.
Congressional Quarterly reports that Hoekstra and other members of the delegation were told to keep the trip on the downlow for “security reasons.”
“Nobody expected, though, that a lawmaker with such an extensive national security background would be the first to break the silence. And in such a big way,” writes CQ.
After all, Hoekstra is the Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee.
Post-partisan?
And the partisan knives are out for Hoekstra (despite living in a post-partisan era). Especially in the blogosphere.
“Pete Hoekstra put the twit in Twitter,” snips the headline over at MichiganLiberal
“Wait, which party was supposed to be the one that was all about a strong defense?” wonders a blogger at WOK3.
To be fair, it wasn’t like he twittered nuclear launch codes or anything. But as CQ notes, he didn’t just stop with announcing the trip, “but included details about their itinerary in updates posted every few hours on his Twitter page.”
Lighten up, Francis
If things weren’t bad enough for Hoekstra, he also got bashed for spelling errors!
Responding to such criticism, Hoektra twittered “Sorry but riding in poor light, bouncing around,speed not accuracy. Lighten up.”
To subscribe to national security secrets Hoekstra’s twitter account, click here.
Comments
2. Robert Eckart | 02.09.09
We are experiencing great levity from the new CSM tendency to show the strikethoughs in your articles. “One strikethrough is worth a thousand words”
Keep up the tongue-in-cheek !
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Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. DJS | 02.09.09
Government intelligence is a oxymoron