Parody account launches for Georgia's '15th' Congressional Representative
Steven Smith describes himself as a "Tea Party Patriot," an "American" and a "Constitutionalist." He also says that he is the "Republican Representative of Georgia's 15th Congressional District."
Steven Smith is fake. (Georgia only has 14 Congressional Districts, not 15.) Smith's website is fake. Smith's given hometown of Valdosta, Ga., is probably also fake — not Valdosta itself, but the fact that "he" lives there.
As far as I can tell, Smith's picture was actually lifted from one of several different Men's Big & Tall apparel sites.
But Steven Smith's Twitter account is very much real and very, very active. The account started tweeting on Oct. 30 and has averaged almost 50 tweets/day since. Some recent examples of Smith's social media "strategy":
@emancipation212 @msnbc @Toure I think you need to emancipate your mind from @BarackObama's plantation, boy. It's too bad you can't see it.
— Rep. Steve Smith (@RepStevenSmith) November 19, 2013
@ororis Tell that to the 32-year-old son who lives in my basement and plays Xbox all day. Pot makes you a loser. Stay off the grass.
— Rep. Steve Smith (@RepStevenSmith) November 19, 2013
@Clamshucker23 I supported Sen. Menendez, regardless of whether the witnesses told the truth about his sex with underage prostitutes in DR.
— Rep. Steve Smith (@RepStevenSmith) November 19, 2013
Per The Washington Post's Ezra Klein, the account is semi-officially labeled a "parody," though that only begs more questions: Why? And also — why say he's from Georgia?
This story was originally published November 19, 2013 at 2:50 PM with the headline "Parody account launches for Georgia's '15th' Congressional Representative."