I wrote the post below last night and am leaving it as is because it’s important I am as accountable as I wanted Michael Moore to be. 

First of all, I made a mistake and owe Michael Moore an apology. I’m thankful I wrote it late last night and then was awake so early that so far less than 40 people have viewed it. 

 I suppose it’s important to let you know how I got here. 

There was a tweet, alright, on MM’s feed, that criticized the HRC pneumonia story as being “unbelievable”. I was shocked MM would write such a thing. Then the tweet disappeared, which spurred me on to start asking questions and writing this blog. 

I did ask other people about it who had also responded to the tweet, reaching out to them via Twitter. I asked three people and two got back to me. Both of them seemed to have remembered it as I did. One told me they thought he was back pedaling due to our criticism of him. Also, I reached out to someone who knows Twitter well, and was told that he probably edited it. 

I was further confused because as I CERTAINLY thought I was responding to MM as the author, I had called him “Surgeon General Moore” in my response. It got over 90 likes and 15 retweets, and I thought all of those people were as irritated at his criticism of her as I. 

But the thing that kept me up last night is that I don’t believe Twitter allows editing, and couldn’t understand how a response I made to it was now under a different tweet. So around 4:30 this morning, I started looking at screenshots of my response again. Then I compared them to other responses. Then, I got a terrible sinking feeling in my gut. 

Here’s what I think may have happened:

When I look at the screenshot, my response has two different handles to whom I’m responding…@—- and @MMFlint. “@—-” was someone involved in the Twitter Storm around this tweet who took offense to my response…namely, that people shouldn’t use Google to make a health diagnoses. 

“@—-” blocked me at some point. As I’ve said, I’m new to Twitter, but the thing about being blocked is you can no longer see their tweets. 

So what I think happened is this guy wrote the tweet. I responded to a tweet on MM’s feed that was written by someone else. I really had a hard time believing this, because I remember seeing MM’s handle and picture on it. But memory isn’t perfect, obviously. 

The old adage about waiting a day to send an email should really be applied to publishing a blog. 

What I most regret is accusing MM of manipulating his account. Now. It could be that MM deleted the tweet himself, but who cares, it’s his right. Either way, the only way this makes sense to me is that he did not author the tweet. 

The other irony here is I made some extremely snarky comments about other user’s reading comprehension, when it’s clear I’m the one who needs better reading comprehension.

So, again, I apologize to Michael Moore. Although my husband told me I should know with 100% certainty I was wrong before writing a retraction, I think it’s more important that I’m pretty sure I was wrong and get this updated before 7 am. 

To say that I feel like a jackass, who has become everything she can’t stand about everyone she criticizes, is a gross understatement.

I really wish I had examined the handles at the beginning of my response from the very start, but it  just didn’t occur to me until too late. This is a perfect example of examining evidence exactly the wrong way, and risking damaging someone’s reputation as a result.  

Below, the original example of my self-righteousness.

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Michael Moore manipulated his Twitter account and I am on a rampage.

First of all, Michael Moore and I are both in the same camp, politically. So it’s not my favorite thing to call bullshit on someone for whom I have respect. I’m sure there are those who will say, he deleted a tweet, so what, it’s his account. But if I am demanding the truth from the GOP, I have to insist upon some truthiness from the Dems.

It’s a convoluted story. Bear with me.

Last night a tweet from Moore came up on my feed. I did not take a screenshot of it. It never occurred to me I needed one. I don’t remember exactly how it was worded. I do know he called the HRC pneumonia story unbelievable, and I think he mentioned something (about her health) had been going on for months.

My response to this tweet was:

“Oh COME ON! Her doctor declares she has pneumonia and you say it’s unbelievable? Thanks, Surgeon General Moore. WTF?”

Although Michael Moore never got back to me, I found myself in my first minor Twitterstorm. I got a lot of likes and retweets, but was also inundated with comments from a lot of people who seem to have impaired reading comprehension. If you want to see the whole shitstorm, my Twitter handle is @LizardGrey, and his is @MMFlint.

Then, I noticed that MM’s original tweet was gone. This was confusing, as people were still replying to my response. So I asked MM where the original tweet went.

No response.

Also, my response was now attached to a tweet which was NOT the one to which I had responded. Now my reply, and several others who responded to original tweet, is listed under this, which I believe was his first tweet about the subject:

“Well, pneumonia. That’s serious. Campaign kept it hidden Fri/Sat/Sun. No wonder the crazies get traction. Dems are pros at losing elections.”

Now how did that happen? I’m new to Twitter, but didn’t think tweets could be edited.

Furthermore, I went to his page and saw several lovey-dovey tweets in support of HRC and condemnation of those condemning her. Yet no mention of his deleted, critical tweet.

Now wait just one minute here. I find myself receiving tweets from KKK members and Bernie or Busters screaming their heads off at me, but the tweet that started this firestorm in the first place is gone. And I’m not the only one. There were several people involved in this response to his original tweet who also took issue with it.

The last straw was when I saw this headline on Raw Story late this afternoon.

“Michael Moore blasts hateful people chasing Hilary Clinton about her health in brilliant smack down”

Well, well. Yes he did. After I, and several other members of Twitter, ripped him a new one. Of course his original tweet was not included.

So I emailed Sarah K. Burris, who reported the story, and sent her screenshots of our responses to his missing tweet, and told her the story. That was at 4:23 pm today. She hasn’t gotten back to me. It’s 9:13 pm.

Several times I asked MM on Twitter where his missing tweet went. He doesn’t follow me, so maybe he didn’t see my query.

But this is what I wish had happened, and honestly, what I expect of someone who is a journalist.

I wish he had tweeted something like: “I wrote a stupid tweet about HRC’s health which I now truly regret.” That’s all.

But by manipulating his account to look like he did no such thing, he may not be misrepresenting himself…he changed his mind, ok…but he misrepresents ME. My reply was not to the tweet he has now posted. And I don’t like being misrepresented.

Come on, Michael. I know you are better than this.

Also…In my phone I have screenshots of the responses to his original tweet. I am unclear about whether I can post them legally. So I’m not. But as of right now they are on Twitter, on his and my account.

This whole thing…I could have ignored it, and not criticized someone who supports the same candidate that I do. But it’s just not in my nature. Also, I know there are going to be people who run with this and say ridiculous things about HRC’s health. However if I have learned anything from my short time on Twitter, it’s that people see what they want, have their own agendas, and respond accordingly. I do wish that kind of nonsense would stop.

Although I’m not sorry I’m writing this, I’m very sorry there’s a need for me to do so.

#ImWithHer