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Liberal celebrities want all of the adoration that social media engagement has to offer -- but none of the accountability that actual engagement requires. For the Hollywood elite, it's "do as they say, not as they tweet." But actress and outspoken Obama campaign co-chair Eva Longoria learned a hard lesson this week on Twitter:
Conservatives online are mad as hell and aren't taking it anymore.
On Tuesday night after the second presidential debate, Longoria shared a "retweet" from one of her 4.4-plus million followers on the micro-blogging network. "I have no idea why any woman/minority can vote for Romney," the message read. "You have to be stupid to vote for such a racist/misogynistic tw*t." (I'm editing the vulgarity for family newspapers, but the tweet's foul reference to a woman's reproductive organs was neither censored nor disavowed by Longoria on her Twitter timeline.)
On Wednesday morning, the editors at Twitchy.com, my Twitter curation/aggregation site, captured and saved Longoria's retweet for posterity. Conservative minorities and women raised their voices. A representative sample:
Wrote Diana Yellow (@navajochic): "I don't appreciate u call'n me stupid. Ur ignorant, selfish and stupid urself! I'm a Romney/Ryan voter, I'm female and a minority."
Becky Gonzalez (@nanabec2) tweeted: "You can vote with your lady parts -- I'll vote with my lady smarts. VOTE ROMNEY!!!"
Melissa (@melissaDiva) responded: "So @EvaLongoria b/c I am a woman and support @MittRomney I am stupid? Your comment is disgusting and disrespectful to women. Shame on you."
Mayelin de Villegas (@mayelinddv) informed the starlet: "I am Hispanic. I am very informed on all issues. Will be voting for Romney and proud to say it."
After Twitchy.com called attention to the Obama campaign co-chair and "War on Women" propagandist's backhanded swipe, she tried to cover her tracks by deleting the message. But Twitter and Twitchy are forever. On Thursday morning, the panicked actress launched into damage-control mode -- and made matters even worse.