Misspellings are embarrassing for most professionals. But that’s not the case for Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who uses a unique shorthand to broadcast his thoughts on Twitter.
Grassley, who was first elected to the Senate in 1980, tweets under the eponymous handle @ChuckGrassley.
On Tuesday Grassley encouraged his 28,000 followers to watch Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress. “I’m in House Chamber waiting for Netanyahoo to address Congress. Watch CSPan,” Grassley tweeted. The misspelling — Netanyahoo — can easily be interpreted as a pejorative, yet it was neither corrected nor deleted.
For at least two years the senator has embraced Twitter with abandon.
On May 23 Grassley tweeted, “Obama advocacy 4democratic change in Arab world impiements Bush doctrine Differenc: Bush do country by country Obama by region.”
On May 14 the senator went off on the Chinese government’s treatment of Christians. “Poor Chinese Commie Leaders! Afraid of afew Chinese Christians worshiping Jesus message is all abt LOVE,” tweeted Grassley, “Why u shake in ur boots ovr love.”
Grassley tweeted on May 2 about his satisfaction that he wasn’t footing the bill for a White House event that hosted congressional leaders. “I’m at WhiteHouse Obama entertaining committee chairs&Ranking members &spouses That’s lots of people. Glad he is paying$$$$$$,” Grassley wrote.
On April 30 he wrote, “Mowed lawn first time this. I mowed w 3lawn mowers together the way political guru Fred Davis made Famous in my pol com$m$eRcials.”
Between humorous tweets are tidbits of wisdom. On April 28, Grassley tweeted that “Talk is CHEAP b/c supply xceeds demand.”
On some days, it is difficult to understand what the senator means.
On April 15 Grassley tweeted, “Reports of Gaddafi using Cluster bombs Nato’stimidity to stop means ‘blood on’ Nato hand for every legles kiod. That is what clusters do.”
The tweet required a clarification. “Previous tweet shld read every legless kid having steped on cluster is because Nato not aggressive enuf going aftr Gaddafi,” Grassley tweeted.
Grassley has defended himself on Twitter against allegations of illiteracy. “Quit complaining abt my Twitter shorthand I know how to spell But Twitter limit is 120 characters,” the senator explained in March. Later in the day he tweeted that he had discovered 20 more characters, but that he would continue to use his signature shorthand.
In 2009, Gawker wrote that the Grassley’s Twitter feed appeared to be “composed by a third grader.” The one tweet noted by Gawker read, “Pres Obama you got nerve while u sightseeing in Paris to tell us ‘time to deliver’ on health care. We still on skedul/even workinWKEND.”
In late April, Gizmodo declared Grassley the “Worst Twitter User in the United States of America,” writing that his tweets comprised “the most incoherent, confounding, mind-boggling text on the internet.”
The account that Grassley uses is verified by Twitter and his office confirmed to The Daily Caller that he personally writes the tweets.