It's No Fair, They're Fighting Back

The White House's pointman on social networks is Jesse Lee, and you know you have somebody who's doing their job effectively if the Wingers are complaining about the fact he's not rolling over and letting them get away with stuff.

Of the 267 tweets written by Lee in just over a month, a stunning 40 of them have been directed at Kevin Eder, a prolific Twitter user with more than 83,000 tweets to his credit. That means 15 percent of Lee’s tweets — from an official White House account no less — have been with Eder.

One such example happened last week in a dispute over the budget.

Eder posted this tweet: “Hmm…it can’t be true that @SenateDems haven’t passed a budget in 790 days and the only plan Obama has is a speech. Right, @jesseclee44?”

To which Lee responded: “@keder @SenateDems Plan is keep negotiating w/ Rs & Ds, not default & trash economy, not voucherize Medicare to fund more tax cuts for rich.”

Lee’s obsession has impressed Eder, even if he’s a bit baffled by the White House’s decision to engage with him so aggressively.


“I like going back and forth with him,” Eder said of Lee. “But if you engage your fiercest critics on new media, you’re doing two things: On the one hand, you’re showing that you take their opinion seriously. That’s good for the non-influencer public to watch what’s happening. But on the other hand, the White House is legitimizing me. And quite literally, I’m a nobody.”

Got that?  Tucker Carlson's outfit is terribly upset that the White House's guy on Twitter is calling Wingers out on their lies and responding to them.  In the Winger world, the White House standing up for itself and seeking to set the facts straight?  That's "bullying".  Shame on the White House for doing that!

Granted, arguing on the internet is still arguing on the internet, but at least the White House is fighting back now.  And as John Cole points out, Jesse Lee must be doing a hell of a job because the Wingers can't stop complaining about him.