By Mike Saucier (@MikeTheSauce)
The issue of immigration is set to heat up once again on the national stage. You might say it never cooled down. It was reported by NBC News this week that the Obama administration “will begin an all-out drive for comprehensive immigration reform, including seeking a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants, according to officials briefed on the plans.”
A social media blitz is being eyed for January with hearings on immigration legislation shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, here in Arizona, there is never a shortage of news coming from the border area.
Arizona Daily Star reporter Tim Steller (@senyorreporter) tweeted: “Apparently, Napolitano and David Aguilar are in the Nogales area meeting with Border Patrol people. No public events, then off to Mex City.”
Former New Mexico governor and presidential candidate Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) tweeted about the 33 marijuana-filled cans shot over the border fence in Yuma and recovered by the U.S. Border Patrol, with the 85 pounds of contents estimated to be worth $43,000. Johnson tweeted: “”Cans of pot launched over … border fence”. Guess we’ll need a higher fence, or anti-pot missiles, or…#legalizeit.”
Dennis Welch (@dennis_welch) of 3TV, tweeted, “The Arizona Senate race makes the Washington Post list of nastiest political races of 2012.”
Indeed it was. The tweet linked to a Washington Post story which described the race as follows: “Flake unleashed a brutal ad in October featuring Carmona’s former boss alleging that he once pounded on her door in the middle of the night and has ‘issues with anger, with ethics, and with women.’ Carmona denied the charges, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee hit back at Flake with a spot featuring a woman who has battled breast cancer charging that the Republican ‘voted to let insurance companies kick women like me out of the hospital on the same day we had our breasts removed.’” Here’s the link: goo.gl/54Wsv.
Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell (@AZMayorMitchell) packed several items of good news into this tweet: “New in #Tempe? 3200 new jobs since February, a upcoming NYE celebration, a tech corridor w/Chandler & Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl!”
Rep. David Schweikert (@RepDavid) tweeted about the impending fiscal cliff: “Number of the day: 18. 18 days until the end of the year. 18 days until the fiscal cliff becomes the fiscal reality.”
His tweet caught me while my head is full of Abraham Lincoln worship, as I just took in two-plus hours of witnessing how politics should be done by the greatest president we ever had. Lincoln showed us that people can find a way to work together and it’s a great example for those involved in fiscal cliff talks.
It was a rough week for Schweikert. He appeared on “Morning Joe” this week, as a Joe Scarborough tweet indicated. Scarborough (@JoeNBC) tweeted: “Rep. David Schweikert on the show, disappointed after Speaker Boehner stripped him of cmte assignments: http://nbcnews.to/123Dkjs
“Look, this is big-boy politics,” Schweikert told the National Review. “My concern is about the future. I don’t want to be punished for voting with my constituency, and I want to contribute to the debate. My message to leadership is, ‘Let me know how I can work with you to do those things.’”
“I have no intention of letting people eat me alive,” he told the magazine. “I’m not going to retreat from the scene because I lost my seat on the committee. I want to be judged on my work product, not on where I stand inside the conference when it comes to leadership.”
Republic editorial page editor Robert Leger (@RobertLeger) tweeted: “We’re putting together a list of 13 Arizonans to watch in 2013, to publish on Opinions in late Dec. Who would you put on that list?”
Schweikert, or anyone else who shows a willingness to work with others to solve the country’s most pressing problems.
One thing about Arizona I have noticed. When the weather ever so slightly shifts away from the awesome sunny-and-over-70s pattern, people take notice.
Courtney Childress (@CourtChildress): “Chilly morning… This Utah girl turned Arizona girl can’t handle the cold!”
KPHO reporter Elizabeth Erwin (@elizabetherwin): “Who else is loving this cooler weather? I’m excited to finally rock my winter work jackets :)”
Stephanie Lough (@StephLough) of Arcadia: “Ive officially turned on my heat. Tried to hold off as long as I could – which apparently isn’t very long. #burr”
Justin Upton of the Diamondbacks (@JUS10UP10): “I love driving behind People in AZ when it’s raining. Makes for a slow ride.”
John McJunkin (@johnmcjunkin), morning show producer for Sharpe in the Morning: “Do Phoenix media over-dramatize rain and storm storms? Vote: kfyi.com/main.html”
My answer: It’s fair to say every media outlet tends to hyperventilate about the weather on a day-to-day basis (viewers don’t seem to mind).
Al Maag (@almaagAvnet), who manages the “global brand for Avnet” and was watching the 12.12.12 concert in New York featuring Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, The Who, and Rolling Stones, among others, tweeted an apt question: “Name the contemporary entertainers who will capture the attention of people when they r in their 60’s and 70’s?”
Answer: I cannot think of a single one.
TWEETING THE HOLIDAYS
Johnjay Van Es (@JohnjayVanEs) of the Johnjay and Rich radio show: “Got picked up to go to station…bumping The Little Drummer Boy…no matter how loud, the song sounds depressing. Its not a energybooster!”
Mesa’s Jon Gabriel (@ExJon), “the undisputed king of stuff,” on the holiday house that went viral: “Arizona Christmas lights. (Note the sign on the left.)”
THE TWEETWEEK IN SPORTS
It’s painful to recall for local football fans but the Cardinals got absolutely destroyed last week. What happened to the 4-0 wonders we all gushed about early in the season. Nobody really knows. Fox sports host and reporter Mark McClune (@MarkMcClune) pointed out something that seems incongruous with today: “Remember when the Cardinals beat the Patriots”
Storyteller, marketer, and writer David Leibowitz (@leiboaz) hit the nail on the head when he tweeted: “You want to debate? Why is Fitzgerald, your only marketable asset, still playing down 58-0?”
But on the baseball front, at least there was this good news, via John Gambadoro (@Gambo620) of KTAR Phoenix: “Justin Upton will not be traded. Arizona will not be entertaining any more offers for Upton’s services. He is staying a Dback.”
Speaking of Upton (@JUS10UP10) again, the 25-year-old Dbacks outfielder was not wrong in expressing his discomfort with being asked to retweet tweets from fans. He tweeted: “Retweeting people’s tweets asking me to retweet seems weird to me…am I wrong?”
JUST RANDOM
Ciao Bella (@ciaobella50), whose Twitter bio reads, “Just A Girl With A Dream! Obsessed Blogger,I tweet about what I love: fashion, glamour, celebrity, make-up & SHOES! Opinionated !!!” tweeted the following to her almost 156,000 followers: “You know why I like Twitter better than Facebook? Twitter is like ‘Cheers’ a place where nobody knows your name.”
It’s where everybody knows your name but anyway, we get the point: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/cheerslyrics.html
Kayte Christensen (@kayte_c), social media engagement producer for AZ Central sports: “Eating a bag of potato chips for dinner as lazy and NOT healthy that is. Nice Merlot as great compliment tho! #Pathetic Welcome to my life.”
Fox 10 reporter Kristen Keogh (@KristenKeogh): “I think it’s time for an intervention regarding this issue I have with biting my nails. What’s your best advice??”
Scottsdale-based PR machine Melissa Rein (@melissarein): “Call into our office today: ‘Can you please let everyone know the restaurant is not on fire? We were just cooking a pig head in a pot’”
DJ and design extraordinaire AJ Colores (@AJColores): “I need to get my business card to say – Vice President of the Internet”
SHOUTOUTS AND SHAMELESS PLUGS
This is actually not a plug at all; it’s a just a funny condemnation.
From Leigh Munsil (@leighmunsil), Scottsdale native and Politico reporter: “There’s really no excuse for wearing Axe anymore, men.”
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Pope Benedict (@Pontifex) is on Twitter! Check out this video which shows him sending his first tweet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy4sNYmfpt8
His tweet: “Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.”
(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 is funny, clever, timely, insightful, provocative, sweet, moving, uplifting, or if it was an apt way of commenting on the issue of the moment.
It was conceived by and 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. Email: msaucier@gmail.com)
