Why One GOP Veteran Thought Obama Got Extra Twitter Characters

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By Chris Taylor2013-09-24 23:56:14 UTC

Many Republicans believe that President Obama gets a free pass from the media — so it stands to reason he might get special treatment from social media too.

At least, that seems to have been the thinking when Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary for George W. Bush and CNN contributor, saw this tweet from the President's healthcare discussion Tuesday:

Fleischer counted the characters in that tweet, and fired off this protest to Twitter's Government and Politics team:

Which left many Twitter users scratching their heads, as there were only 136 characters in Obama's tweet. Half an hour later came Fleischer's sheepish explanation:

By then, of course, it was too late. Fleischer's original tweet, which remains undeleted, had become a Twitter meme:

Which brings us to the age-old question: should Twitter ever relax or abandon its 140-character limit? Give us your take in the comments.

Image: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP

Topics: Barack Obama, Politics, Twitter, US & World