Chuck Grassley Talks Twitter Secrets
Never one for false modesty, Sen. Charles E. Grassley thinks he’s pretty good at using Twitter.
If u are a “follower” and u paid for my breakfast at VillageInn CedarFalls let me know do I can thank you Waiter told me when askd for chk
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) January 26, 2015
Though the Iowa Republican believes there is certainly room for improvement.
“First of all, I’ve come to the conclusion, watching how my colleagues tweet, that I don’t do enough of it, even though I probably have a better reputation than they have, so I need to do more,” Grassley said in a recent interview with CQ Roll Call when asked about @chuckgrassley.
Grassley, who has almost 83,000 followers, takes pride in handling his own accounts, as opposed to giving the reins to staff. He’s as frank on Twitter as he is in person.
Thx to Cong King for opportunity to address Freedom Summit. Except for having to fill up multiple bird feeders I watched summit on CSPAN
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) January 24, 2015
For example, on April 7, 2012, Grassley created a social media firestorm when he called President Barack Obama stupid. He tweeted the following in response to 44’s comment disbelieving the Supreme Court would invalidate the Affordable Care Act:
Constituents askd why i am not outraged at PresO attack on supreme court independence. Bcause Am ppl r not stupid as this x prof of con law
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) April 7, 2012
Grassley said he tweets “whatever comes to mind,” which has included his outrage that the History Channel programing doesn’t cover much history anymore. (It’s mostly reality shows about pawnshops or lumberjacks these days.)
Thanks to NewsMaxTV for running the history of Queen Elizabeth Jan 10. It’s nice to c history there when”History” runs”curse of oak island
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) January 10, 2015
History. No history. Axe man Timber Nothing historical. Back to FOX. Sigh. Suggest name to change channel name
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) March 19, 2012
“It’s irritating,” Grassley said. “Every time a commercial comes on Fox or MSNBC, I go to the History Channel, and it’s a pawnshop or it’s the ax man, or something like that, it’s not history.”
A few of his other favorite Twitter subjects? He regularly reports on University of Northern Iowa basketball and his town hall meetings.
UNI men bb ovr Missouri St 32/20 half
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) January 18, 2015
“Just in case you wonder if I do it myself or not, obviously I don’t have staff with me at the basketball games at University of Northern Iowa,” Grassley said. “And I tweeted myself when I said we hit a deer and it was assumed dead.”
That was one of his more famous tweets, coming in October 2012 about the untimely demise of an animal that a car he was riding in had struck.
Fred and I hit a deer on hiway 136 south of Dyersville. After I pulled fender rubbing on tire we continued to farm. Assume deer dead
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 26, 2012
From the looks of things, woodland creatures better watch their backs in 2015, too.
Fred driving me. He said Tues b4 new yr day he hit deer. Don’t hv to assume anything. He told deer dead I wasn’t w him that nite
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) January 9, 2015
(District aide Fred Schuster reportedly sent another ill-fated roadway hazard into the great beyond on Dec. 30., though Grassley wasn’t along for that ride.)
The octogenarian lawmaker also mentioned that he is now on Instagram (about time ) and is looking for followers.
