contextualizing context

the fact checkers sure seem to dislike being fact checked

so, this tweet went out from the white house today.

and, for the second time ever (both in the last 2 days) the “added context” feature was used on the biden admin’s communications to append some quite germane information in simple, factual form.

while, obviously, this is a power that could easily be abused and that certainly has been in the past (as well as selectively applied for partisan purpose) i think one would struggle to claim that this was anything other than a straight down the middle, neutral addition that made it clear the manner in which the claim that this completely automatic and formula driven COLA increase in SS payments based on a law put in place in 1972 was some sort of “biden leadership” was pretty disingenuous.

we can certainly debate whether this is a power twitter birdwatch can be trusted to exercise faithfully and if this sort of “weighing in” ought be their job or that of the folks in the debate themselves (and personally, i suspect we’d be all in all better off without it as the track record of trusting the watchmen to watch themselves is poor) , but it’s certainly a power that this administration themselves have deeply coveted and used to great effect all over social media (up to and including deplatforming major news outlets for accurate factual reporting while smearing them as propogandists and partisans).

and for that reason, i struggle to generate much sympathy for them.

amusingly, they seem flummoxed by a fair playing field and so used to “home town reffing” as to have no idea how to play it square.

apparently, not only is this gang unused to being contradicted when they spread such misleading tales but did not find it to be at all to their taste.

they have since taken the tweet down and have tried to relocate the debate about why back to precincts in which they still control the message. (they are getting dragged on twitter for it)

i shall leave it to you to watch karine and to render judgement upon the plausibility and sincerity of “the official” explication.

Breaking911@Breaking911

KJP asked why @WhiteHouse deleted tweet flagged by Twitter that credited Biden for SS payment increase "The tweet was not complete—Usually when we put out a tweet, we post it with context. [...] Let's not forget [...] about MAGA Republicans in Congress & their continued threat."

6:14 PM · Nov 2, 2022

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