Ain't that tweet? Tuesday, Liberal MP Michelle Simson got herself into trouble after a foray into the social networking system known as Twitter.

Writing about a colleague, Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, Simson said "MP Del Mastro should grow up (not out)."

Then, not satisfied with merely commenting on Del Mastro's weight, Simson sent out the Twitter message, "Gosh, I hate to see a grown MP pout. Smile, Dean!"

Simson subsequently apologized.

Last month, Liberal Ujjal Dosanjh posted details about a closed-door defence committee meeting on Twitter, and also wound up apologizing to Parliament.

Senator Mike Duffy is in the midst of a legal wrangle with a Twitter imposter.

There was a small firestorm last week when a text message from federal Transportation Minister John Baird - reading "Thatcher has died" - was misinterpreted as meaning former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had died, when Baird was actually referring to his cat.

It's easy to understand the lure of the electronic message: MPs are outgoing folks who like to be heard. They have to be, to even get that particular job. And sites like Twitter extend that reach, even if its short message length requirement tends to result in messages that are mundane.

Let's face it, the first thing that springs into a politician's head is unlikely to be the most valuable or the most insightful thought of their day.

In fact, you can argue that those thoughts are likely to be the most dangerous. Why? Because they are the kind of thing that slips out before a Parliamentarian - or anyone else - has had an opportunity to consider the ramifications of what they're saying.

Twitter, more than Facebook or any other social networking system, is tailor-made for the blurt factor. Seconds after you type it in, the message is not only out there, but hand-delivered to others anywhere within reach of the Internet.

And even Facebook has done damage to the image of politicians in this country. Neophyte political figures have been forced to drop out of elections because of photos or opinions expressed on their Facebook sites.

Bad blurting is not completely the precinct of our elected officials, of course. There probably aren't many people in the country who haven't lodged their feet firmly in their mouths at some point or another: who, among us, hasn't told the wrong joke to the wrong people, or let slip an opinion that, among people who don't know us well, doesn't pass the smell test?

It's one thing if you slip up in front of a handful of friends or even acquaintances.

It's something else again when you deliberately transmit something inane from your BlackBerry or cellphone to a legion of people.

The message for politicians trying to stay ahead of the brave new wave of communications technology? Review your e-thoughts and comments with the same kind of care that you would use if you were about to speak into a microphone.

That's one way to keep from having to dine on crow.

There is one good side to this, though.

With Twitter, we get to see which of our elected politicians are, well, twits.

But it's also an embarrassing sideshow to what should be slightly more sober discourse.