Rupert Murdoch has fallen hard and fast for Twitter, using it to praise Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum heading into today's Iowa caucuses, diss former Fox News host Glenn Beck, and insult an entire country.
Murdoch joined Twitter on Saturday, and has since used it to praise politicians, promote News Corp. properties, and offer his musings about England's work ethic. He had already gained nearly 88,000 followers as of Tuesday morning.
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As Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, surged in Iowa polls, Murdoch tweeted Monday night: "Can't resist this tweet, but all Iowans think about Rick Santorum. Only candidate with genuine big vision for country." On Sunday he had tweeted: "Good to see Santorum surging in Iowa. Regardless of policies, all debates showed principles, consistency and humility like no other."
On Saturday, Murdoch put in a plug for another Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, as well as one of his own newspapers: "Great oped in [Wall Street Journal] today on Ron Paul. Huge appeal of libertarian message."
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Just before his Monday tweet urging Iowans to consider Santorum, Murdoch insulted Beck, who scored strong ratings for Murdoch's Fox News before they began to slide and he departed to start his own online news network. The insult came amid Murdoch's praise for "The Five," the talk show that replaced Beck's on Fox News.
"Got to watch Foxnews at 5 EST. Liberal Bob Beckel and team great replacement for Beck and much more fun."
Murdoch has already had to pull back from one tweet. He tweeted, "Maybe Brits have too many holidays for broke country!" before deleting the comment after a slew of complaints from fellow tweeters. (One of them was a person impersonating his wife; Twitter erroneously verified the account as real.)
Murdoch is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Australia.
The conservative CEO offered praise for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a longtime Democrat who switched to the Republican party to run for office and then left it, calling him "New York's best mayor in memory!"
He also had kind words for Democratic President Barack Obama: "Obama decision on terrorist detention very courageous – and dead right!" he wrote.
Murdoch also offered his review of Walter Isaacson's "Steve Jobs," a book for which he was interviewed. "Steve Jobs biog interesting but unfair," he wrote. "Family must hate."
Of course, Murdoch may not like what the book says about him. Isaacson wrote that Jobs bluntly told Murdoch, "You're blowing it with Fox News," and called it an "incredibly destructive force force in our society."
Murdoch, 80, also shared his New Year's resolutions with the Twitterverse: "My resolutions, try to maintain humility and always curiosity. And of course diet!"