By Mike Saucier
This was the week the election hangover subsided and the march toward the holidays began in earnest. The usual chatter of this time of year–anticipated holiday travel, Thanksgiving gatherings and Black Friday—is flecked with talk of David Petraeus and leftover grousing and grandstanding about the national election.
Speaking of the embattled CIA director, this tweet by Matt Fox (@persuasionfox) of Scottsdale contains some good advice: “Don’t put anything on the Internet that you wouldn’t put on the front page of the paper- @rbcarter <=attribution #techphx”
Micah Johnson (Micah Johnson@TV_Agent), television agent and social media brand savant, does make a valid point with this tweet: “If ‘THE MEDIA’ turned the cameras on all the ‘affairs’ that occur in TV stations and media executive offices…… #JustSayn”
And Johnson again took the media to task with this spot-on tweet: “I love how a cable network anchor just referred to ‘mainstream media’ without including themselves? WTFlip? #TV”
Turning to the topic of Arizona’s petition to secede from the union…
By Tuesday, the push to let the state secede already had received more than half of the 25,000 signatures needed to trigger an official response, according to the East Valley Tribune.
Jen Parsons (Jen Parsons@japarsons) of Phoenix, a community manager for a national nonprofit, tweeted: “Anyone else find it funny that Mississippi misspelled ‘government’ in its petition to secede from the US? http://ht.ly/feusN #Merica”
Adrienne Knoblock (Adrienne Knoblock@longballgirl), an accountant and D-backs season ticket holder of Chandler, tweeted: “People signing this petition to secede from the nation…please stop wasting time and do something constructive with your life. #suggestion”
Becky Armendariz (Becky Armendariz@rarmendariz), a public relations specialist of Phoenix, weighed in with this: “Secede from US b/c of a president who will only be in office for 4 more years? Y’all are effing crazy. Eat some ice cream and get over it!”
She also said: “Time to get past our differences and fix this broken country. Stop throwing rocks b/c I KNOW you do not live in a glass house!”
Still a hot topic after the election is what happened to the Republicans. Talk of a new approach and outreach to Latino voters is being both encouraged and discouraged by different segments of the party, setting up what could be an even deeper rift between the party’s moderates and its more conservative members.
On this topic, @MikeTheSauce, for what it’s worth, takes the view of Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who said at a forum on Thursday: “It’s really hard to get people to listen to you on economic growth, on tax rates, on healthcare if they think you want to deport their grandmother,” Rubio said. “I mean, it’s very difficult to get people to listen to anything else you are saying.”
“I think you see the change in that tone hopefully among people around the country on this issue. That you can be for legal immigration — you don’t have to be for amnesty — but you also need to understand that we’re speaking about human beings.”
On that topic, the editor of the Capitol Times, Jim Small (Jim Small@JimSmall), tweeted: “We all saw how quickly some turned on @ShaneWikfors this year when he suggested #AZ Republicans soften their stance to attract Latinos”
In other local political news, former Maricopa County attorney Andrew Thomas announced he’s thinking about running for governor, which generated considerable news buzz.
Yvonne Wingett Sanchez (YvonneWingettSanchez@yvonnewingett) of the Republic tweeted: “How does this sound to you: Gov. Andrew Thomas.”
And Robert Leger of the Republic’s editorial pages (Robert Leger@RobertLeger): “Those ‘leaders and citizens’ Andrew Thomas says are urging him to run for governor.. Are they Democrats?”
Jill Monier of Fox 10 (jill_monier@jill_monier) referenced one of the hardest things about being a reporter in this tweet:
“11 yrs reporting…interviewing family members of fallen soldiers, unsolved murders, sick/killed/injured children,always breaks my heart.”
Following an amazing election week for marijuana in Colorado and Washington, Arizona had some news about pot. Rose Law Group client, Arizona Organix in Glendale became the first medical-marijuana dispensary to be approved by the state and it was inspected this week by the Health Services agency. It can now sell marijuana to patients.
Ryan Hurley of the Rose Law Group (Ryan Hurley@rhurley999), an attorney focusing in renewable energy and medical marijuana, tweeted:
“Today the first #MMJ dispensary in #AZ achieved approval to operate from @AZDHS which did a fantastic job. Good day for patients! #progress”
And Ray Stern of the New Times (Ray Stern@raystern) tweeted: “Az DHS has just approved the state’s first medical-marijuana dispensary. The Glendale store could open by tomorrow to qualified patients.”
Sheriff Joe Arpaio (Joe Arpaio@RealSheriffJoe) gave a shout-out to veterans during their week to be honored with this tweet: “It is my policy to place vets in front of the hiring line. How fitting this week of veterans day for 10 vets to be part of this graduation.”
Suns center/forward Luke Zeller (Luke Zeller@LukeZeller40) also noted the importance of our military veterans: “An honor to have military at the game tonight. Humbled by them asking for an autograph. I should be getting theirs! They are the real heroes!”
Tucker Carlson, editor of The Daily Caller, spoke at the Goldwater Institute (Goldwater Institute@GoldwaterInst), which tweeted: “Tucker Carlson on Goldwater’s results: ‘You’ve got a higher batting average than any group in Washington, that’s for sure.’ #Goldwater2012
Twitter registers almost 340 million tweets a day. Some fit nicely into a category of content, others do not and the sheer everyday randomness of messages is what makes Twitter so engrossing. These are a few good examples.
Paul Davenport, (Paul Davenport@AZdavenport), a reporter covering Arizona government and politics for the Associated Press: “Male coworker: ‘I don’t shop, man. I buy.’”
Kendall Marshall, who plays guard for the Suns (Kendall Marshall@KButter5): “It’s always awkward when you have a predetermined answer when someone greets you. EX: How are you?” Me: Nothin much.”
AJ Colores (AJ Colores@AJColores), who has “the brains of Einstein, the speed of robot, and the looks of James Franco,” tweeted: “My sunglasses make these clouds look like a dust storm or haboob.”
Matt Yoder (Matthew Yoder@MattYoder): “Remember oxygen bars… man, those were a dumb idea.”
Britt Moreno, reporter and Saturday morning anchor for Fox 10 (@brittfox10):
“The real men of journalism calendar!? What?? Media hunks modeling for a calendar…I’m going to check this out.”
Ashley Elizabeth (@ashleyefrances) of Tucson and Phoenix tweeted: “There’s something to be learned from waiting all day for a train that’s never coming.”
You are what you eat. And you are what you tweet. With that, these are this week’s unofficial business recommendation: Federal Pizza on Central Ave. in Phoenix and Carolina’s Mexican Food on East Mohave St., Phoenix.
Cronkite grad student AJ Vicens (AJVicens@AJVicens): “Currently devouring a brussels sprouts pizza at Federal Pizza in #Phoenix. The 10-year-old me would be kicking my ass right now.”
Newly-elected Krysten Sinema (Kyrsten Sinema@kyrstensinema), telling Brahm Resnik of 12 News (@brahmresnik): “next try Federal Pizza in north central. So many great local restaurants in cd9!”
Doug Mings (Doug Mings@douglasmings), political chair for the Sierra Club in Arizona: “A trip to Carolina’s always makes for a great day. Love those tortillas! Love it all!”
The Tweet of the Week comes from Matt McAllister (Matt McAllister@KNIXMatt) of the Ben and Matt Show on 102.5 KNIX. He captured the spirit of the upcoming holiday season with this:
“Happiness comes from helping others. Period. Can you help us collect a million cans of food?” http://v.iheart.com/2xLj
(TwitterZona is a column about Arizona tweets from movers and shakers in government, the sports world, newsrooms, public relations, the commentariat, business and enterprise, entertainment, the restaurant and nightlife scene, and arenas in between. Tweet selection is based on whether it struck me as funny, clever, timely, insightful, provocative, sweet, moving, uplifting, or if it was an apt way of commenting on the issue of the moment.
It is written by Phoenix resident Mike Saucier, @MikeTheSauce, a former newspaper reporter and editor in Massachusetts and New York City and a former spokesman for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and the New York City Department of Correction.)
