Celebrity parody accounts, when done poorly, can be the lamest form of expression on Twitter.
But that didn’t stop Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign from going for yucks, or at least something resembling them, with a new account: @bill_clinton12.
Created Monday and apparently designed to counter Clinton’s current work campaigning for President Barack Obama, the account often tweets links to news stories that highlight strife between the current and former president. @bill_clinton12 also harps on Romney’s resume, with tweets like “In my humble opinion, the time @MittRomney spent at Bain Capital was a good business career.”
Twitter users have already decried it with the worst charge one can level at a parody account—being unfunny.
“I think a bunch of 10-yr-olds are running @MittRomney‘s campaign,” user @marabout40 posted. “Can’t spell and nothing but childish pranks.”
While the Romney campaign didn’t return multiple requests for confirmation that @bill_clinton12 is run by its staff, the campaign’s official website does dedicate a page to the account. Oddly titled “What if @Bill_Clinton12 were tweeting?”, the page highlights @bill_clinton12’s first six tweets alongside links that purportedly prove either Romney’s credentials or President Barack Obama’s failures.
The significance of the number 12 in the account’s name is unclear, though it likely has to do with the election year. @bill_clinton1 through @bill_clinton11 are all available usernames.
The account is legal under Twitter’s guidelines, which allow parody accounts as long as they identify themselves as such, which @bill_clinton12 does in its bio.
But in terms of actually being funny, it has a long way to go before it joins the ranks of esteemed parodists like @PimpBillClinton.
That account has yet to acknowledge @bill_clinton12. In fact, @PimpBillClinton hasn’t tweeted anything since Sunday, when he retweeted a link to a “Whose Booty Is That?” quiz, which was hashtagged #BonerAlert.
Photo via @bill_clinton12
