But what do you get when this strategy of over-delivering backfires? Pure comedy unmatched even by a “Golden Girls” marathon.

More specifically, you get pols who never read the health care bill faced with people who have. Witness the town hall meeting this morning with Senator Arlen Specter. The folks present didn’t just read the bill, they’re now quoting it – something even the Titan of Transparency never really wanted.

Even better, this level of discourse is coming from the non-Twitter crowd, the beyond Facebook folks more concerned with Lipitor side effects than Lady Gaga’s lady parts. They are not motivated by racism, as the left wants everyone to believe, but by real concerns – some raised at the dinner table, some reasoned in books. None from Twitter, I imagine.

I only bring up Twitter, because as I watched the PA town meeting, I also came across an online column by Meghan McCain, i.e. Ron Reagan with curves. In a catty struggle for relevance among perceived rivals, she points out that while Michelle Malkin has the number one book on the New York Times bestseller list, McCain has “nearly twice as many Twitter followers as she does. And trust me, Twitter is more of an indication of where young people are than books published by the hyper-conservative publisher Regnery.”

Maybe so, but did these “young people” read the health care proposal? Did they show up at town hall meetings? No – they’re too busy Twittering about “Twilight” (yes, a dated reference, but I like how it sounds). Twitter might have been there for Iran, but in the end, the young people weren’t.

And here is where McCain’s crowing about Twitter reveals a mistake many people make: confusing mass for meaning, accumulation for content. The fact is, the phone book has everything I need to know about the world around me, but I don’t take it to the beach to read. The phone book inspires no one, for it is (or was) a tool used by others to facilitate communication – much like Twitter. To confuse the messaging system with the message should tell Meghan her message needs work. Considering she just signed a hefty book deal, I’d get on that soon.

Which brings me back to those old coots railing at Arlen Specter this morning. That was an honest spectacle generated by a generation unencumbered by the desire for “followers.” Their concerns are bigger: increased government control, their family’s well-being, and of course, their own mortality. They realize that 5000 followers will not come to their funeral. And sadly for Megs, they probably don’t buy books either.

TONIGHT: Harris Faulkner, Tucker Carlson, Remi Spencer and Oderus Urangus from Gwar! Yahoo!

Regnery Announces Plans to Publish De-Throned Miss California Carrie Prejean

WASHINGTON, D.C. -Regnery Publishing announced today it has signed a publishing contract with former Miss California Carrie Prejean. Her new book, Still Standing, will be released in November 2009. 

Prejean attracted national attention when she answered a question at the Miss USA Pageant defending traditional marriage.  The unprecedented personal attacks that ensued eventually culminated in Prejean being stripped of her Miss California crown. But the 22-year-old won the respect of millions for modeling something other than evening gowns and swimsuits – the courage of standing up for her convictions. 

Now she will tell her side of the story, answering such questions as what happened behind the scenes at the pageant, why she answered the Perez Hilton question as she did, what really led to her losing the Miss California crown, and how she has been forced to battle the left’s double-standard on free speech and the bias against conservatives – particularly conservative women – who stand up for their beliefs. 

Prejean is represented by Lee Hough with Alive Communications, Inc.