Zuckerberg likes Romney? Really?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg may be a man who shoots animals so that he can eat, but surely many would imagine that his politics might tip slightly toward the Democratic side.

Until the last 24 hours, that is.

For the site's faithful suddenly got the impression that Zuckerberg was a keen liker of Mitt Romney.

Tech CEOs who wear jeans and look innocent are not supposed to be Republicans. They're supposed to be liberals who let youths skateboard around the office, while making billions of dollars.

How might this clear misunderstanding have occurred? Well, Zuckerberg decided that he liked something by Farhad Manjoo, the highly brain-stimulating columnist for Slate.

Manjoo had posted an image of the Romney campaign logo with the words: "Try, just try looking at the Romney logo without seeing the word MONEY."

Zuckerberg and 510 other people expressed their fondness for this thought-provoking Manjoo haiku. And yet, when Zuckerberg's "like" was transmitted to his own acco-likes, the Manjoo reference was omitted, leaving only the Romney logo and the Zuckerbergian approbation.

Hark the rending of garments, the gnashing of teeth, the sharpening of stares and knives. For, as Gawker kindly relates it, the spittle-filled offerings gushed like a veritable phlegm fountain.

There were cruel phrases such as: "this is probably the biggest brain fart since he created facemash."

There was even the suggestion that Zuckerberg was angry with President Obama. No, not because the president held a Google+ hangout, but, allegedly: "Mark is just upset because his company got a good kick in the butt for screwing up royally in regard to users' privacy settings. It's all behind you now Mark. There's no need to take that on the Obama Administration."

This was all, of course, Zuckerberg's fault. The Facebook software simply omitted one field of information to make his "like" fit a neater template, one that featured his face. Socially networked pain ensued.

Politics and social networking seem to enjoy a very troubling relationship. Only the other day, I noticed that one of Mitt Romney's sons had followed me on Twitter. I was touched.

I then made a highly innocuous joke about Romney Pere--because humor gets me through the day. Immediately, Romney the Younger was gone.

One thing, though, might trouble those who care about the political leanings of the socially and morally upright. All the coverage I have seen assumes that because Zuckerberg liked Manjoo's post, he must therefore not be a Romney fan.

I cannot stoop to such presumptuousness. I have therefore contacted Facebook to learn of its CEO's official leanings. I will update as soon as I have word from on high, though the inkling I am currently getting is "No comment."