Lawmakers twittered through Obama address. Is...

There they were, in the middle of Obama's speech, on their blackberries twittering their reactions to their constituents/friends/mother-in-laws. Admittedly, they did it more before the speech, but some of them continued into the speech. It was a mix of Republicans and Dems. And I wonder to myself, is that a bit rude?

Lawmakers love to preach to teens, one thing at a time, can't you stop texting while your drive? And there they are, "multitasking" themselves. Fine, they are in no danger of crashing a vehicle, but they are in charge of writing our nations laws. Isn't that an important job, and don't they need to just listen during the speech? Can't they save their comments for after?

On one level, it's nice to know that Congress persons are actually more tech savvy than they are actually portrayed as being. Gone is Ted Stevens, and with him, gone is the notion in Congress that the internet is a "series of tubes". Great. But still, isn't this a matter of politeness? What would Miss Manners say?

Comments: 11

Kim J. Feb 25, 2009, 9:04am EST

Is it rude? yes, if you get caught(and they did). I don't think it would've been that difficult to give it up for less than 90 minutes. Guess they don't go to movies, huh?
OTOH, this is one of the reasons I usually leave all electronic devices in my car when I go somewhere...I'm not tempted. But then, I'm not as important as some people feel they are!

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Roy ☯ Hilbinger Feb 25, 2009, 9:16am EST

If they were "twittering" their reactions to the president's speech, then no, they weren't being rude. They were doing the job they were elected to, and keeping their constituents informed. In fact, I don't have a TV, and I was following the live feed on the WhiteHouse.gov blog's live text feed; so even the president's staff was blog-feeding during the speech. Were they being rude, too? No, they were keeping the public informed. Would that all of our elected officials were that on-the-ball.

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Chris W. Feb 25, 2009, 9:28am EST

yes Kim, I think ego is part of it. As in, nice rule, but I am too important for that rule to apply to ME.

I just wish that having a technology would someday NOT mean that we have to jump in an abuse it.

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Chris W. Feb 25, 2009, 9:29am EST

have to disagree, Roy. If the public wanted to keep informed on Obama's speech, they could be watching it. Comments can wait until the end of the speech.

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Richard Frisbie Feb 25, 2009, 12:05pm EST

If they are twittering their reactions to what he just said they are missing what he is saying - THAT is not representing us, it's stupidity. Although, I suppose they could record the speech and catch it later to see what they missed, and how inappropriate their comments were because of what they missed while twittering.

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anna g. vanwinkle Feb 25, 2009, 12:49pm EST

people r having responsive self 'talk' to themselves when listening- twittering is no less or more offensive - other than it is visible...

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Kimber L. Feb 25, 2009, 2:16pm EST

I think it is rude

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Larry M. Feb 25, 2009, 2:57pm EST

It's only rude if somebody notices what they are doing.

It is hard to do that and pay attention. They are likely to fail the pop-quiz.

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Eric T. Feb 25, 2009, 8:07pm EST

Somewhere between the internet is a "series of tubes" and "you can see Russia from Alaska" (Sarah Palin's foreign policy education and experience), the truth lies!

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