All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Meghan McCain, whose profile as a young political commentator has steadily risen in the wake of her father John McCain's loss in the 2008 presidential election, posted a photograph on Twitter of herself yesterday in the midst of what she called, in a tweet, her "'spontaneous' night in" with "my Andy Warhol biography and takeout."

The response to the photo, at left, was apparently not what she had expected.

Just one hour after she posted the picture, a seemingly hurt and angry McCain posted this tweet: "so I took a fun picture not thinking anything about what I was wearing but apparently anything other than a pantsuit I am a slut, this is."

And then this one: "why I have been considering deleting my twitter account, what once was fun now just seems like a vessel for harassment."

And then this: "when I am alone in my apartment, I wear tank tops and sweat pants, I had no idea this makes me a "slut", I can't even tell you how hurt I am." (Here's McCain's twitter page.)

McCain, who writes a column on the Daily Beast Web site and has more than 60,000 twitter followers, quickly took the photo down. But it had already spread far and wide online and generated enough interest to rise, for a brief moment, to the top spot on Google Trends.

She also kept posting about the picture and the response to it.

"ok I am getting the f*** off twitter, promise not to delete my account until I sleep on it, thank you for the nice words supporters," she wrote. And then she offered an apology: "I do want to apologize to anyone that was offended by my twitpic, I have clearly made a huge mistake and am sorry 2 those that are offended."

Twitter users expressed surprise that McCain was taken aback by the response to her photo.

"I find it difficult to believe that she expect *some* reaction to that photo," wrote afrobella. Others expressed sympathy for McCain for the criticism she received.

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The White House announced late Friday afternoon – on its Twitter page – that President Obama will hold a primetime news conference on Wednesday, July 22nd at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

"You heard it here first: Primetime presidential news conference at the White House, Wed. 7/22 @ 9PM EDT," the White House said, prompting an immediate flurry of retweets.

It will be Mr. Obama's forth prime time news conference and his fifth formal solo White House news conference.

Check back to CBSNews.com Wednesday evening for full coverage of the press conference, which will likely focus largely on health care reform efforts.

Sarah Palin has been able to leverage her Twitter account to keep up a national profile since her failed 2008 vice presidential bid -- and she doesn't plan to let her resignation as governor of Alaska stop her. Palin is promising a new account and "less politically correct" Tweets once she steps down as governor.

Palin's current Twitter handle, AKGovSarahPalin, won't be very fitting for the Republican politician come July 26, when Lt. Governor Sean Parnell will take over for Palin. Subsequently, it appears she is planning to launch a new account.

Just hours ago, Palin tweeted, "I'll stay in touch w/whomever wants via personal twtr site;launch July 26;in meantime it's pleasure to update interested folks on State biz!"

That note followed up on a tweet that seems to promise more Palin headlines in the weeks to come: "elected is replaceable;Ak WILL progress! + side benefit=10 dys til less politically correct twitters fly frm my fingertps outside State site," she wrote.

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The speculation over Sarah Palin's political future has run rampant since she abruptly announced her resignation from her post as governor of Alaska last week. Based on the content of her Twitter account, the former vice presidential candidate has no intention of staying out of national politics.

"Talk in DC of a 2nd 'Stimulus' Pkg: Impacts on AK? We'd be partaking in even more Big Govt largess & immoral natl debt," reads a Wednesday morning tweet from Palin, who uses the social networking site under the handle "AKGovSarahPalin."

Later Wednesday morning, the governor left a message possibly shedding some light on the thinking behind her resignation: "Today,try this: 'Act in accordance to your conscience -risk- by pursuing larger vision in opposition to popular, powerful pressure'-unknown."

That was preceded by another potentially enlightening tweet: "Couple of thoughts for the day on beautiful bright AK morn:'You have to sacrifice to win. That's my philosophy in 6 words.'- George Allen."

Palin, who launched her Twitter account in late April, was compelled to use the Web 2.0 tool, as well as the more-popular Web site Facebook, to answer to the frenzy of questions and theories that developed after her largely-unexplained resignation. Her hostility to mainstream media's coverage of her announcement was evident: Her attorney even threatened legal action against certain media outlets.

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In an attempt to directly reach the Iranian people, the White House has posted the transcript of President Obama's opening remarks on Iran at his press conference today translated into Farsi.

You can see the translation here.

"The Iranian people can speak for themselves," the president said in the translated comments. "That's precisely what's happened in the last few days. In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness."

"We've seen the timeless dignity of tens of thousands of Iranians marching in silence," he added. "We've seen people of all ages risk everything to insist that their votes are counted and that their voices are heard. Above all, we've seen courageous women stand up to the brutality and threats, and we've experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets. While this loss is raw and extraordinarily painful, we also know this: Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history."

The page also includes a link to a translation of the comments in Arabic. (PDF) The White House also tweeted a link to the translation, in Farsi, on twitter.

A senior official has confirmed that the State Department asked Twitter to delay a schedule maintenance shutdown and keep the social networking site running over the past weekend, when it was slated to be offline.

The action was seen as a likely effort to maintain communication with users in Iran, where the contested presidential election has sparked a series of increasingly violent demonstrations and protests.

At the State Department Briefing today, spokesman Ian Kelly acknowledged that officials had been communicating with Twitter and other media sites, but refused to comment on whether those conversations were in reference to Iran.

"I know the secretary has a - wants a big push for Diplomacy in using these new social media to develop horizontally communities," he said. “And of course, twitter is another one of those social media."

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President Obama "ought to know better" than to cajole Congress to continue working on health care legislation while he is vacationing in Paris, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) tells CBS News political consultant John Dickerson on CBSNews.com's politics Web show "Washington Unplugged."

Grassley, the top Republican on a Senate committee responsible for health care reform, explains the angry message he fired off to the president via Twitter last weekend.

"Pres Obama while u sightseeing in Paris u said 'time to delivr on healthcare' When you are a 'hammer' u think evrything is NAIL I'm no NAIL," he tweeted. The president in his weekly address last Saturday said it was "time to deliver" on health care reform. Mr. Obama spent that wekeend seeing the sights in Paris following a trip to Europe and the Middle East.

"He ought to know better because since he has been sworn in office, those of us working on this issue who have been in almost constant communication with him," Grassley said. "I don't deny the president having a vacation with his family, sightseeing in Paris. I would enjoy doing that with my grandchildren. But to say what he said it did not need to be said. It did not help the cause and I resented it."

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The top Republican on a committee in charge of health care reform is angry at President Obama's leadership on the issue -- and over the weekend, he used his Twitter account to tell the president how he feels. While the message came across loud and clear, the criticism, which was limited by the format’s 140 character limit, looked more like a teenager’s text message than a traditional political pronouncement.

"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," Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, declared on his Twitter account on Sunday morning.

Minutes later, he tweeted, "Pres Obama while u sightseeing in Paris u said 'time to delivr on healthcare' When you are a 'hammer' u think evrything is NAIL I'm no NAIL."

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When Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich blasted President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor for being a racist on Twitter, he ignited a debate over her objectivity.

Speaking to Face the Nation guest moderator Harry Smith Sunday, senior White House advisor David Axelrod defended Sotomayor against charges that she is a racist.

"I think what she believes, Harry, is that everyone is the product of their experiences. She's the product of hers."

Axelrod called Gingrich's comment "unfortunate" and said, "I think that it is so unfair and so unreflective of who she is."

Later in the program, Gingrich said he wished to "reframe" his initial comment calling Sotomayor a racist, when really he does not know the nominee and meant that her words were racist.

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Arizona Sen. John McCain posted on Twitter today that "calling for GM CEO to resign is unprecedented window dressing."

"GM needs restructuring as part of pre-negotiated bankruptcy package," he added.

The 2008 Republican presidential nominee is referring to the Sunday resignation of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner, who was forced out by the White House in an effort to give the embattled auto company a "clean slate."

Industry experts told CBS News that Wagoner is perceived to have been insufficiently willing to face off with the union and that the president is trying to send a message to the company to get serious about cost-cutting if it wants more taxpayer money.

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