Name-calling and zingers

IMPREMEDIA — In a bid to take some of the air out of Newt Gingrich’s now faded momentum, Mitt Romney tried to brand his nemesis as “zany.” The former Massachusetts governor planted that Gingrich is a little out of orbit with his ideas, and therefore, not in step with what the nation needs in a leader.

But that’s polite in Twittersphere.

Here’s one Tweet quoting controversial writer Christopher Hitchens:

Hitchens on Gingrich in 1995: “He has a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull in his office. He has a Tyrannosaurus Rex skull in his skull.”

How about this tweet poking at Gingrich’s infidelity?

BorowitzReport

Gingrich: “I believe that wife begins at insemination.”

Or this one on Romney?

LOLGOP

REPORT: Mitt Romney is still furious that the Corporation was not named

Time’s Person of the Year.

But wait, there’s more…

Michele Bachmann just told Gingrich that she is a serious candidate, and then she tried to sell him some Mary Kaye Cosmetics.

Ouch!

With the caucus and primary races in motion, the comments — specifically on Twitter— are projected to get worse, as a recent study hints.

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism looked at 20 million tweets from May to November of last year and found that in comparison to the blogosphere, Tweeters are delivering more nasty verbal punches.

The difference in the platforms, Pew says, suggests that the tight 140-word format of Tweets invites rapid and more frequent observations. Thus, more volume, more opinion—and yes, more smackdowns.

That study also found that among the Republican hopefuls, Ron Paul—who is trailing in the race for the Republican nomination— has enjoyed the most favorable tone on Twitter.

For those looking to gauge public sentiment, Pew cautioned that while social media sometimes move with polls, often they do not.

More than 17 percent of U.S. Hispanics are Twitter users, according to Edison Research.