As various political figures posture and prepare for the 2012 Republican Presidential primary, one “winner” we can announce already is ... social media.
Most notably, Sarah Palin has turned Facebook into a political tool du jour. She doesn’t blog. She doesn’t need to. She Facebooks.
But Palin’s not alone in embracing new media for political gain. Newt Gingrich is on Twitter. And Mitt Romney is too.
But what does all this live, spontaneous, real-time interaction with political hopefuls mean for us, the voting public?
It means we have an opportunity to perform our duty as faithful citizens even more thoroughly. Even Catholics who don’t consider themselves “political junkies”—ones who won’t even think about their primary vote until a day or so before the election—have no excuse for not knowing the facts about where each candidate stands on the issues.
I found it interesting to see a Slate run-down of potential Republican candidates who are “winning” the battle for friends and followers on Twitter:
Newt Gingrich: 1,308,757 followers, 1,925 tweets
Sarah Palin: 191,164 followers, 347 tweets
Mike Huckabee: 83,297 followers, 1,188 tweets
Tim Pawlenty: 16,464 followers, 235 tweets
Mitt Romney: 14,347 followers, 241 tweets
Haley Barbour: 6,357 followers, 264 tweets
Mitch Daniels: 3,451 followers, 457 tweets
If you are on Twitter too, why not send some of these Presidential hopefuls a tweet or two?
Let them know that your Catholic conscience will be guiding you at the polls, especially with regard to life issues. Ask them how they plan to earn your vote.
Comments
Post a Comment
All RINOs I see. What happen to the true conservative? Please don’t tell me Palin is. She is a sell out. Unfortunately, when the GOP chose not to endorse Dr Alan Keyes in 2000 the Repub Party has been going down hill. Alan Keyes - http://twitter.com/loyaltoliberty
I think Newt’s had an awakening, he’s been sounding pretty conservative in his many appearances on Fox, I think becomming a Catholic had an effect…
Why do you think Palin’s a sell out? she had a conservative track record as govenor, although I don’t think she’s electable…
Robert, would you say Tony Blair is conservative since becoming Catholic? Newt is not conservative. Well, maybe fiscally conservative. When you have a Catholic politician (Newt) endorsing RINO candidates, you know he is not socially conservative. Sarah came out strong the night she was first introduced to America, after that it went down hill. She believes States should decide on abortion & marriage. I do believe for the most part States should decide on issues, however, on moral issues like marriage & abortion, the States need to all be in agreement. We see what is happening w/ the fake marriages allowed in one state & not in another. Palin is a sell out for endorsing RINO candidates – McCain, Brown, most recently Karen Handel of GA. The list just goes on. She passes these people off as the TRUE conservative. I’m sorry that the GOP shafted her but if she really had strong convictions on the moral issues, as she claims, then she should be fighting hard for the TRUE conservatives, & not seeking limelight attention & trying to fight in w/ the GOP establishment, so she can have another run in the Presidential election. Unfortunately many sheep are seeking a leader, however, Plain Newt, Romney & el al are not leaders who desire to put God first. In talk yes, in action NO. Until politicians are willing to lay it on the line - America’s problem is the moral decay – we can not move fwd. to getting our Country back on the right track.
Fabiola-
You open my eyes to new, I’ve been telling everybody he’s the man, but now I’m going to watch him closely. As for Palin, I think thats what happens if we overturn Roe V. Wade, it goes back to the states. So is there anybody out there you see as a good possible canidate?
I love Alan
Keyes too, but sadly I think he’s about as electable as Palin, not enough of the indepentents will vote for him. also Palin had to ewndorse McCain for obvious reasons, and Browm is as good as were gonna get from Massachusettes..
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.