Want to find Bill Clinton on Twitter? Well, as of Monday night you just have to type in @PrezBillyJeff, which is a dignified handle any former leader of the free world would be happy to own. And who can you blame -- er, credit -- for it? Stephen Colbert.
It was all part of Monday night's "Colbert Report," which was devoted entirely to Colbert's interview of former President Clinton, which had been pre-taped at Clinton's annual Global Initiative University (CGIU) meeting this past weekend. They tackled several serious subjects, including time management and American foreign assistance, but after a while Colbert discovered that while the former president may use Facebook, he does not use Twitter.
"I think I'm so, sort of insecure," he said. "What if you tweet and nobody tweets back?"
Colbert decided it was time to rectify this situation. Holding an iPhone, Colbert announced that he'd "taken the liberty" of opening a Twitter account for President Clinton, but the first obvious handles -- @PresidentClinton, @WilliamJeffersonClinton -- were taken. But @PrezBillyJeff "was available."
Chuckling, Clinton let Colbert send out his first tweet: "Just spent amazing time with Colbert. Is he sane? He is cool!" Colbert added the hashtag of #CGIU, and out it went into the world.
"Sir, welcome to the future," said Colbert, and shook his hand.
Alas, Clinton has not tweeted again as of this writing. It's not a "verified" account yet, and the description reads: "I am President William Jefferson BIlly Jeff Rodham Clinton. Stephen Colbert is my BFF." But he already has 39,666 followers -- and he's following one person.
Who would that be? @StephenAtHome, of course.
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