Birmingham News editorial writer Joey Kennedy spent this past weekend the same way he usually does, posting twitter haikus and other über-intelligent, insightful things like this:
What Boehner and the Republicans want to do is make everything hostage. After this, it'll be EPA or WIC or Medicaid. Got to stop them now.
— Joey Kennedy (@joeykennedy) October 5, 2013
Twitter haiku: Day 5 of shutdown. Angry White Men and Boehner Still keep us hostage. #twitterhaiku #shutdown #idiots
— Joey Kennedy (@joeykennedy) October 6, 2013
A recent Reuters survey showed, once again, that FOX viewers are the least informed and are, frankly, dumb. http://t.co/czqgxW94tX
— Joey Kennedy (@joeykennedy) October 6, 2013
Tea Party is no party. They wouldn't know a good time if you showed it to them. Angry White Men.
— Joey Kennedy (@joeykennedy) October 6, 2013
Day 6 of the government shutdown. It's past time for Angry White Men and Boehner to give it a rest.
— Joey Kennedy (@joeykennedy) October 6, 2013
After following along for a while, Patrick Speigner, a 20-year-old Birmingham-area sales associate, took to Twitter Sunday night to confront Kennedy about one of his recent articles regarding the government shutdown.
@joeykennedy there are so many things wrong with that article you posted #GovermentShutdown #DefundObamacare #TCOT #TEAPARTY
— Patrick Speigner (@bama_patrick) October 7, 2013
Kennedy defied him to “name one.” Speigner responded that he did not believe, as Kennedy does, that the government shutdown is solely the fault of Republicans.
The rest of the argument is pretty much what you’d expect. Kennedy derides Republicans’ refusal to “compromise” and implores Speigner to stop watching Fox News because it’s “melting [his] brain.”
But then Kennedy takes it next-level and calls Tea Partiers, a group with which over half of Alabamians identify, “the extreme of the extremists” and proclaimed that they are “not patriots.”
@bama_patrick The Tea Party is the extreme of the extremists. They're not patriots. They are destroyers. If you're with them, so are you.
— Joey Kennedy (@joeykennedy) October 7, 2013
Kennedy then “blocked’ Speigner from being able to interact with him further…
Just had to block a troll on Twitter. Full of FOX News and couldn't spell his way out of "c-a-t." How did he ever learn Twitter technology?
— Joey Kennedy (@joeykennedy) October 7, 2013
…which Speigner counted as a victory.
Getting Blocked by a leftwing newspaper reporter because he couldnt handle the truth…..CHECK!! #GovernmentShutdown #TCOT #AlPolitics
— Patrick Speigner (@bama_patrick) October 7, 2013
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims