So, it is official: Olympia Snowe, Republican senator from the state of Maine and, of late, The Most Sucked-Up-To Woman in America, has announced that she will, indeed, vote ‘yes’–today, anyway–on the Senate finance committee’s health care bill. (In other news, we’re hearing reports of a rather raucous conga line making its way through the halls of the Hart building; a shirtless, Mardi-Gras-bead-bedecked fellow who looks a lot like Max Baucus seems to be at the head.)
Anyway, this is fairly big news for health care (one piece of evidence of that, among many, being that “Snowe” is currently the leading trend on Twitter). And the media have reflected its importance by a turning in a flurry (sorry) of Snowe-related tweets. Below, a completely unscientific sampling of reactions to the ‘Snowe’s-a-yes’ news from Our Media Twittersphere, broken out by category:
Practical:
– MSNBC’s David Shuster: “Republican Senator Olympia Snowe says she will vote FOR the Baucus bill today.”
Practical, and a Tad Sensational:
– Huffington Post: “ALERT: Maine Sen. Snowe bucks GOP leadership, will SUPPORT Finance Committee health care bill http://bit.ly/2gRuI5”
A Tad Sensational, a Tad Inspirational:
– Rick Klein (“The Note”): “Snowe: “When history calls, history calls.” She’s a yes.”
Rather Blase:
– TPM’s Brian Beutler: “Oh right. Twitter. Snowe’s gonna vote for the bill. In case you hadn’t heard :-/”
Unable to Resist Making a Pun Out of the News:
– Howie Kurtz: “Snowe in October! Olympia to vote for Baucus bill. Who says bipartisanship is dead?”
– Jake Tapper: “for Baucus bill, chances of Snowe 100%”
– Karen Tumulty: “Snowe is a yes”
– Greg Mitchell: “Let it Snowe: Olympia will vote yes on Baucus plan, media report.”
Hey, guys! You forgot: “Don’t call Snowe yellow,” “Snowe storms through voting,” “Snow drifts to the Dems,” etc. Next time, next time.
Megan Garber is an assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. She was formerly a CJR staff writer.