The House Energy and Commerce Committee has started the Twitter feed @KXLFiles in recent days, according to committee spokeswoman Charlotte Baker. The first-person feed masquerades as the State Department’s environmental impact statement and offers an unequivocal, pro-Keystone position — one that the State Department itself has avoided taking while the decision is pending.

Since its first tweet on May 16, @KXLFiles has sent five tweets and retweeted House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican on the committee. The feed has 108 followers.

What’s 15,500 pages, tells a tale that will help create #jobs, & is in the country’s national interest? Answer: Me. #TimeToBuild #KeystoneXL

— KXLFiles (@KXLFiles) May 20, 2013

SPOILER ALERT: I don’t want to ruin a good story, but if you read me, you’ll see I’m in the country’s nat’l interest. #TimeToBuild #4Jobs.

— KXLFiles (@KXLFiles) May 20, 2013

Union workers say “it’s time to unlock the jobs” in #KeystoneXL, call the project a “lifeline” j.mp/13FSCfi

— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) May 20, 2013

The House is set to vote this week on measure that would allow TransCanada Corp.’s $5.3 billion pipeline to be built without the approval of President Barack Obama. While the measure is likely to pass the Republican-led House, it faces long odds in the Senate, where Democrats are in control.

Obama turned down TransCanada’s initial bid to build the pipeline from Alberta to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico, and has been weighing its re-application since last year. While the White House and State Department have tried to downplay the importance of the pipeline, Obama’s environmental allies say his decision is a key test of whether he is serious about tackling climate change in his second term.

Original post is House Republicans Tweet For Keystone by Political Capital.

Photograph by Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images

A cardboard cut-out of President Barack Obama in a tent defending “Obamacare” at a street fair in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The long-running competition for one-upsmanship over Obamacare in three pithy words has reached a fever pitch, pitting the White House and allies against repeal-minded Republicans with all sorts of bystanders weighing in — remembering that last summer one of those entries read: Guarantees President Romney.

The White House stands on terra firma with this one:

It’s. The. Law. #ObamaCareInThreeWords, twitter.com/whitehouse/sta…

— The White House (@whitehouse) May 16, 2013

Yet the partisan competition is undeterred, and seldom have so many people with day jobs devoted so much time to debating something so momentous in such abbreviated fashion.

Counted 100 new tweets on this track in the last five minutes.

#ObamaCareInThreeWords–> $1,000,000,000,000 In Taxes

— Eric Cantor (@GOPLeader) May 16, 2013

IRS in control. #ObamacareInThreeWords

— Michele Bachmann (@MicheleBachmann) May 16, 2013

#obamacareinthreewords: God Bless America!

— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) May 16, 2013

RT @gopleader: #ObamaCareInThreeWords –> Another Broken Promise

— Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) May 16, 2013

No gender discrimination.#ObamaCareInThreeWords #womenpaysameasmen

— Stephanie Cutter (@stefcutter) May 16, 2013

IRS. Is. Boss #obamacareinthreewords

— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) May 16, 2013

Good for America. #obamacareinthreewords

— D Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) May 16, 2013

#ObamaCareInThreeWords –Job Killing Regulations

— RNC (@GOP) May 16, 2013

The speaker’s office has been stuffing the ballot box:

RT @gopleader: #ObamaCareInThreeWords –> Run by #IRS.

— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) May 16, 2013

#ObamaCareinThreeWords: Scares small businesses –> j.mp/10qCYTK

— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) May 16, 2013

#ObamaCareinThreeWords –> Repeal for jobs

— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) May 16, 2013

Original post is Obamacare in Three Words: OMG by Political Capital.

The Onion

Onion Twitter Password Changed To OnionMan77 — ‘That Ought To Do It’

Original post is Onion-Hacking: ‘Just the Beginning’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by Brynn Anderson/The Palm Beach Post/Zuma Press

Morning Joe’s host Joe Scarborough, center, shares a laugh with show guests in Boca Raton.

Joe Scarborough is a lot of things.

He is a former Republican congressman from Florida’s far-West, far-right Panhandle.

He is a successful co-host of the most popular morning program on cable news, “Morning Joe.”

He’s a doting father and passable guitar player, too.

And now, by his own count, he’s also a “loser.”

I just posted my 20,000th tweet. It’s official. I’m a loser.

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 6, 2013

Today, Scarborough — who was missing in action this morning on the set of that MSNBC program, where co-host Mika Brzezinski was busy launching her new book about the addiction of junk food — has been busy tweeting about Al Gore’s wealth, a story that Bloomberg News explored today, and which New York magazine is weighing in on as well. It’s the lead item on the Drudge Report. Which makes it quite tweetable.

Damn! RT @chuckmeg @joenbcIf W had stolen your election you might be as rich as #AlGore

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 6, 2013

All of which adds up to one successful promotional media strategy for a self-styled loser.

Original post is Joe Scarborough: ‘Loser’ by Political Capital.

Source: Twitter Inc. via Bloomberg

The Twitter Inc. page belonging to Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is seen in this screen grab taken on May 2, 2013. Buffett topped 50,000 followers on Twitter as he sent his first message on the social media site.

Updated May 3, 2013, 8:20 am EST

Bill Clinton and Warren Buffett are keeping company. With friends like Stephen Colbert. And “where else can you hear from Bill Gates, John McCain, Ellen Degeneres and Usher in one day?”

The 43nd president only recently signed up for Twitter, and already has more than 560,000 followers. The oracle of Omaha signed up Thursday —  ”Warren is in the House” — with more than 105,000 followers on Day One and 270,000 on Day Two.

Warren is in the house.

— Warren Buffett (@WarrenBuffett) May 2, 2013

.@warrenbuffett Welcome to @twitter. What took you so long?

— Bill Clinton (@billclinton) May 2, 2013

Colbert is really “cool,” Clinton said in his first tweet last month (10 tweets ago.)

Just spent amazing time with Colbert!Is he sane? He is cool! #cgiu

— Bill Clinton (@billclinton) April 6, 2013

And Clinton is proud, he said in another tweet, of Jason Collins, the NBA center who announced that he is gay.

I’m proud to call Jason Collins a friend. wjcf.co/154piCi

— Bill Clinton (@billclinton) April 29, 2013

He noted that he was glad to join his daughter at the social networking site.

Excited to join @chelseaclinton and my good friend @stephenathome on Twitter! — Bill Clinton (@billclinton) April 25, 2013

So far, Clinton said recently, it’s going fairly well.

Enjoying @twitter so far. Where else can you hear from @billgates @paulpierce34 @senjohnmccain @theellenshow @usher in one day? #thisisgreat — Bill Clinton (@billclinton) April 25, 2013.

Warren’s only other tweet so far promoted a column he wrote for CNN Money titled “Warren Buffett is Bullish … on Women.”

Read my new essay on why women are key to America’s prosperity: cnnmon.ie/18eXfik.

— Warren Buffett (@WarrenBuffett) May 2, 2013

Waiting for the next word from Buffett, with about 270,000 others.

Original post is Warren Buffett ‘Is In The House’ — With More than 270,000 Guests by Political Capital.

Photograph by Ken McGagh/MetroWest Daily News/Zuma Press

Injured people in front of Marathon Sports on Boylston Street on April 15, 2013 in Boston.

Here is Twitter, the news service:

Three additional suspects taken into custody in Marathon bombing case. Details to follow.

— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) May 1, 2013

In Boston, the apprehension of the surviving brother of two accused of planting bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon was tweeted out that night by the Boston Police Department.

Which today reports, or rather tweets, three more arrests.

As they say on the TV news: Details to follow.

Yet, the Boston PD adds, there is no need to worry:

UPDATE: Boston Marathon Investigation: Please be advised there is no threat to the public.j.mp/15ZQDVK

— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) May 1, 2013

Original post is Boston Arrests: Twitter Alert by Political Capital.

Photograph by Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

We’re losing count now of how many times this phrase has been tweeted today:

“Tweet from hacked AP Twitter account causes Dow to drop 150 points.”

The fake tweet heard ’round the world has kept Twitter abuzz while the hacked @AP account is suspended.

AP通信記者のアカウントがバッキングされ混乱した模様… RT @eamonjavers: AP reporter opens WH briefing by saying AP twitter feed was hacked, report false. Carney:…

— 堤 理志 (@tsu_satoshi) April 23, 2013

Not only the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but also the Standard & Poor’s 500 index each fell before rebounding within seconds following the hacking of an AP Twitter account circulated a bogus message about two explosions at the White House and the president being injured. Neither was true, the White House was quick to report.

The episode is another measure of the vulnerability of electronic communications in the social networking age, and of the potential for real repercussions.

This sort of vulnerability focuses a pointed light on how a widely trusted source of information can be corrupted by the ethernet equivalent of vandalism.

The Associated Press is a not-for-profit news organization funded by its newspaper and broadcast members. Founded in 1846, the New York-based news operation has more than 2,000 journalists worldwide.

“We’ve obviously been hacked on our AP Twitter account,”  said Paul Colford, a spokesman for the Associated Press. “That tweet about the White House is obviously bogus.”

The AP’s Stylebook is a newsroom Bible for standard language.  One British paper suggested today that the fake tweet was obviously counterfeit from the get-go, because it did not follow AP style.

The @ap Twitter account has been suspended after it was hacked. The tweet about an attack on the White House was false.

— AP Stylebook (@APStylebook) April 23, 2013

Jim Prosser, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Twitter, declined to comment.

Original post is Fake Tweet Rocks Markets for Seconds — Cybersecurity Alarm by Political Capital.

Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Sen. Rand Paul introduces his father, Republican presidential candidate Rep Ron Paul on January 2, 2012 in Davenport, Iowa.

Like father, like son?

Not if he knows what’s good for him, some are saying of Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — suggesting that, for all the popularity his father enjoyed in his bids for a presidential nomination, he’ll need to find his own way to the Republican Party’s nod if he seeks it in 2016.

And look who’s spreading that news: Dad.

A Rand Paul White House Path Complicated By Dad’s Legacy – NPR (blog) bit.ly/13NomBk #RonPaul #tlot #tcot

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul_2012) April 22, 2013.

It makes for an interesting father-son chat about these political facts of life.

As Liz Halloran reports in the NPR dispatch that retired Rep. Ron Paul of Texas has shared on Twitter:

“Though many state-level Republicans who disdained his father, largely over his non-interventionist foreign policy stance and a demeanor they believed stopped short of presidential, are indicating a willingness to give the younger Paul a listen, they say he has work to do.”

“Ron Paul and his supporters have left a very bad taste in the mouth of many Republicans,” says Jeff Jorgensen, a Republican county chairman in Christian conservative western Iowa. “I don’t want anyone out there to get the impression that we’re throwing in with Rand Paul.”

And this:

“We are in turmoil at the state level,” says Jorgensen, the Pottawattamie County chairman, and a member of the state Central Committee. “But it appears that Ron Paul’s support in Iowa is trending down, and will continue to do so going into 2014.”

To do well in the Hawkeye State, he says, the younger Paul “has to distance himself from his dad’s people.”

Of course, as the younger Paul notes, simply saying you’re thinking about 2016 has the benefit of keeping you in the chatter about 2016. Just spell the name right.

Original post is Rand Paul’s Ron Paul Advice by Political Capital.

Photograph by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Shooting victim and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and her husband Mark Kelly at the U.S. Capitol April 16, 2013.

Updated at 2:50 pm EDT

Six years ago today, 32 people were gunned down on the campus of Virginia Tech, notes former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was seriously wounded in a 2011 outdoor shooting in Tucson, Arizona, that also killed a federal judge and five others, as she makes the rounds of the U.S. Capitol today pressing for action in the aftermath of the Newtown, Connecticut, school shootings that claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators.

Six years ago we lost too many lives at Virginia Tech shooting. I’m working hard to prevent more tragic deaths from gun violence. join me.

— Gabrielle Giffords (@GabbyGiffords) April 16, 2013

As Senate Democratic leaders struggle to find the 60 votes needed to approve amendments to the gun safety bill they are trying to take to the floor this week, Giffords was meeting today with Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who has joined with Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania in sponsoring an amendment to require more stringent background checks of gun buyers.

Giffords also was meeting today with the Democratic caucus — two of whom, Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Mark Begich of Alaska, voted last week to prevent the gun bill from advancing. Sixteen Republicans joined most of the Democrats and two independents in voting to advance the bill, but few of those appear ready to support the Manchin-Toomey amendment.

Last week, parents and other relatives of the Newtown victims pressed Congress for action — and the Senate voted to advance the bill. Today, Giffords is here, once again asking for a vote.

Glad @sentoomey and @sen_joemanchin are moving forward on backgroundchecks. Americans don’t want political games, they want progress.

— Gabrielle Giffords (@GabbyGiffords) April 10, 2013

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said today he hoped that “powerful” speeches to the Senate Democratic caucus by Manchin and Giffords’  husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, would help get more Democratic votes for the background-check provision. “A lot of people are struggling at this point,” he said, noting supporters need nine or 10 Republicans to get the 60-vote super-majority needed.

Heidi Przybyla and Jim Rowley contributed to this report from the Capitol. See their full report here.

Original post is Giffords: Six Years After Virginia Tech, Presses for Newtown Action by Political Capital.

Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, center, arrives for the weekly Republican policy luncheon on the Capitol on April 9, 2013 in Washington, DC.

There is Hollywood, and then there is Louisville.

And Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader of the U.S. Senate from Kentucky who privately discussed ways to “do out” anyone who opposes him for re-election, has turned an audio-taping of that February meeting with his staff that went public into a fundraising ploy.

“I stand with Senator McConnell against illegal wiretapping,” the solicitation from “Team Mitch” goes. “The liberal left” has been “exposed” for wiretapping the senator’s camapign headquarters, they complained on Twitter:

The liberal left is exposed for illegally wiretapping our campaign HQ. Stand with Sen. McConnell against this: teammitch.com/wiretap/?src=t…

— Team Mitch (@Team_Mitch) April 9, 2013

Mother Jones magazine, which published the recording online, has maintained that no wire-tapping was involved. This is the same publication that revealed a secret videotaping of Mitt Romney at a fundraising event last year complaining that he cannot reach the 47 percent of Americans dependent on the government.

In this case, McConnell is heard telling his staff in early February: “This is the Whack-A-Mole period of the campaign… When anybody sticks their head up, do them out.”

In the case of Ashley Judd, the singing and acting star of Memphis and Hollywood who considered seeking the Democratic nomination for McConnell’s seat in 2014, the staff noted some particular vulnerabilities — including a past battle with depression acknowledged in a 2011 memoir.

The operatives of Team Mitch are also overheard making fun of Judd’s religious beliefs, playing a recording of her saying: “I still choose the God of my understanding as the God of my childhood. I have to expand my God concept from time to time, and you know particularly I enjoy native faith practices, and have a very nature-based God concept. I’d like to think I’m like St. Francis in that way. Brother Donkey, Sister Bird.”

One of McConnell’s staffers is heard saying mockingly: “Brother Donkey, Sister Bird!”

Another staffer suggests: “The people at Southeast Christian [Church] would take to the streets with pitchforks.”

Louisville, meet Hollywood: TMZ is on the case.

McConnell himself was asked at the Capitol yesterday if it was appropriate for members of his staff to talk about Judd’s bouts with depression as a potential campaign tool.

“Well, as you know, last month my wife’s ethnicity was attacked by a left-wing group in Kentucky, and then apparently they also bugged my headquarters,” he replied. “So I think that pretty well sums up the way the political left is operating in Kentucky.”

A reporter repeated the question: “Is it fair game for you… to question someone’s mental health or their religious sensibilities in a strategy session like that?”

“Yeah, as I indicated, last month they were attacking my wife’s ethnicity, and then apparently, also unbeknownst to us at the time, they were bugging our headquarters — quite a Nixonian move,” McConnell said. “This is what you get from the political left in America, these days.”

Third try, question posed again, third answer: “As I indicated, last week they were attacking my wife’s ethnicity, and apparently also bugging my headquarters, much like Nixon and Watergate. That’s what the political left does, these days.”

Never mind a Republican leader citing the dirty tricks of a former president of his own party — or mixing the metaphors. The Watergate was broken into. It was the Oval Office of the White House that was bugged, by the sitting president.

In Kentucky, attacks from the left of any variety are fighting words. And McConnell was quick to turn the tables on this episode in the ongoing saga of secret tapes gone public at Mother Jones — it was Judd whom his staff was targeting, but now it is McConnell, calling on the FBI to investigate the “Nixonian” bugging of his office, who has been targeted. Victimization works wonders in fundraising, and on TV.

McConnell’s wife Elaine Chao, a former Labor secretary, cut a campaign ad recently addressing a group’s use of her Asian heritage. “Progress Kentucky” in February suggested on Twitter that Chao, born in Taiwan, had helped send American jobs to China during her term as labor secretary under President George W. Bush.

“Now, far-left special interests are also attacking my ethnicity, even attacking Mitch’s patriotism because he’s married to me. That’s how low some people will stoop,” she said in the ad. “Mitch loves Kentucky. We love Kentucky. The meanest personal attacks can never change that.”

Original post is McConnell Turns Table on ‘Liberal Left:’ Louisville Fundraising Bonanza by Political Capital.