The Week on Politwoops: Reactions to the World Cup, #bushwar and more

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A series of deleted tweets archived by Politwoops of politicians reacting to the USA's win over Ghana in the World Cup.
Deletions via Politwoops.

Politwoops often catches politicians taking back their initial reactions to breaking news, from Supreme Court decisions to released military members returning home. This week, following the surprising victory by the U.S. World Cup team, politicians naturally emoted their patriotism on Twitter, but a few folks backtracked and sent their second thoughts to Politwoops.

The campaign account for Erin McClelland, a Democratic House challenger in Pennsylvania, deleted a tweet after 42 minutes that said, “Go USA! #OneNationOneTeam” responding to tweet claiming to show an “Exclusive pic as #USA celebrate their opening goal of #WorldCup2014.” The obviously photoshopped image shows the 2010 World Cup team celebrating a goal featuring professional wrestler Rob Van Dam in the midst of executing his signature Five-Star Frog Splash on the unsuspecting footballers. Her account explained the tweet was deleted because “I was informed it was not the correct pic :)

The campaign account for Alex Mooney, a Republican running to represent West Virginia in the U.S. House, deleted a retweet after just 5 seconds that said “This pretty much sums up how we all feel right now. #USAvGHA” and included a picture of Hulk Hogan playing an American flag guitar in front of an American flag. His campaign account replaced the message with a tamer hashtag-ridden message and did not respond to a request for comment. Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla., deleted a tweet after an hour signed “-RS” wishing Jozy Altidore, one of the soccer players for the U.S., “Congratulations on an outstanding game” and inexplicably kept up his well wishes to three other U.S. players. He also did not respond to a request for comment.

The deleted and non-deleted versions of a tweet from Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo.
Deleted tweet via Politwoops, non-deleted tweet via Twitter.

The official account for Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., deleted a tweet after 10 seconds saying, “#Iraq #Bushwar Countries, like eggs, are easier to break than they are to put back together again. I hope we learn from #iraqfail” and then replaced it with a new version lacking the hashtags “Bushwar” and “iraqfail.” His account did not respond to my request for an explanation.

In other notable deleted tweets this week, the campaign account for Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., removed a retweet of a Buzzfeed article asking “Churro Ice Cream Sandwich – Y/N??” and the official account of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., deleted a tweet after 4 weeks that showed him dancing with the message, “Enjoyed spending time at the #HowardBeach Senior Center discussing storm recovery efforts (& hitting the dance floor).” The official account for Peter Roskam, R-Ill., was a week late in deleting the TweetDeck script vulnerability that swept across the Hill last week.

Have a great weekend and please let me know if we’re missing any politicians from the project!