Senator likens Obama to animal killer

FILE: Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson casts a ballot in Oshkosh, Wis. (AP)

Politicians, operatives, White House officials, members of Congress—along with some snark artists—are debating, attacking, defending and kibitzing around the clock on Twitter. It’s a nonstop forum that is helping shape the political conversation.  In this daily feature, @laurenashburn picks some of the best – and worst – political tweets you may have missed.

Didn’t see this one coming. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson really thinks ObamaCare has gone to the dogs.

So much so, he took to the airwaves to bark his displeasure, and followed up with a tweet mocking the president’s semi-apology over millions losing their health insurance. Here's how The Hill summed it up.

The Hill ‏@thehill: “@SenRonJohnson: Obama's apology like saying, 'I'm sorry your dog died,' without admitting you ran him over http://j.mp/17SxW6M "

Here’s the full interview from local radio station WTMJ:

"It certainly wasn't an apology. When I heard it, the analogy I was thinking of was, you tell somebody, 'Boy, I'm really sorry your dog died,' but you refuse to acknowledge you ran over that dog with your car," Johnson said. "Those are your tire tracks on that dog."

Woof! I get what he’s saying, but the image of a dead dog with tracks on his back is a bit ruff.

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How annoyed is Chris Christie about Time Magazine’s cover headline: "Elephant in the Room"?

Answer: Not much. He's just thrilled to be on the cover of Time, ya got that? His exact words to Fox’s Chris Wallace were: "Who cares?"

As he made the Sunday show rounds, he made it pretty clear that if he can’t take fat jokes, he has no business being in politics, and should curl up in a fetal ball somewhere.

The cover was a cheap shot designed to get a lot of buzz.  It worked. Everyone is talking about it, including Time.

TIME.com @time: “Christie: 'Whatever they put on the cover of TIME magazine, as long as my name's with it, I could care less' ti.me/1biNhLr”

Sounds like a win-win relationship to me.

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And while we’re on the subject of 2016 Republican candidates, is anyone else tired of all the speculation about a race that is years away? On Sunday’s four-show blitz, Christie was asked four times whether he’d run. Time TV critic James Poniewozik hits the nail on the head:

James Poniewozik ‏@poniewozik: “There is no more useless interview subject than asking someone if they're going to run for office when they have no intention of saying.”

Christie ducked most questions about his future by saying he already has a day job. "What I'm interested in doing is being the governor of New Jersey," Christie said on "Fox News Sunday."

But on ABC’s ‘This Week,’ Christie gave a pretty candid answer when George Stephanopoulos asked if he planned to serve out his entire second term as governor. "Who knows? I don't know."

Even if potential candidates do answer the question, it’s still answered in a snapshot of time and most likely won’t factor into future decision-making. Remember how Senator Obama once told Tim Russert on MTP that he would not run for Pres? Can’t imagine Obama saying months later, ‘Aw shucks, I can’t campaign. I told Tim I wasn’t going to run!’

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Sunday shows like MTP are the place to go to get your message heard.  That’s why Secretary of State John Kerry sat down with David Gregory to let loose on his views about not just his nuclear negotiations with Iran, but JFK conspiracy theories.

Meet the Press producer Chris Donovan tweeted:

Chris Donovan @chrisdonovannbc: “John Kerry re recently saying 'I have serious doubts that Lee H. Oswald acted alone.' John Kerry on #MTP: 'It's a point of view that I have'”

It is the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s death, but still, doesn't Kerry have enough to worry about with Iran, Israel and the Palestinians, Syria, Afghanistan…?

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Okay, who stole Cory Booker’s Twitter feed? He’s sounding more and more like Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle and Rick Warren rolled into one.

His typical posts to his 1.4 million followers include him talking to the new Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, telling a voter to direct message him so he can help get garbage trucks to show up at her house  (within an hour, trash was picked up), opining about movies, and retweeting positive articles about himself.  Oh – and cheering for the Giants, of course.

But that isn’t all.

Cory Booker ‏@CoryBooker: “Dream big, think large thoughts & have huge ambition - but never forget life is lived in small moments & sustained by simple acts of love.”

That bon mot garnered 437 retweets and 284 favorites. It was followed by another tweet that received 667 retweets and 326 favorites.

Cory Booker ‏@CoryBooker: “May we love more than we judge, help more than we criticize and never care so much what others think that we stop being true to ourselves.”

The tweets of encouragement from the newly-minted New Jersey senator are just part this deeply spiritual, Church-going Christian’s way of life.

And from the positive response he’s getting on Twitter, his evangelizing seems to be working.

If you’d like to recommend your favorite political Twitter picks, email Lauren Ashburn laurenashburnFNC@yahoo.com or send her a tweet @laurenashburn with the hashtag #TwitterTalk.