Brown blames phone for 'Bqthatevwr'

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BOSTON, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Former Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., said hastily-deleted Twitter messages he posted last month were the result of accidental "pocket-dialing."

In Twitter exchanges, all in a two-minute window in January, Brown responded to messages with casual and sarcastic references to "whatever" – "whatever michael," "whatever bud," and most notably "Bqthatevwr," that suggested to some observers Brown had been drinking, the Washington newspaper The Hill reported Tuesday.

In his first public comment on the incidents to WFXT-TV, Boston, Brown denied he had been drinking, saying, "Anyone ever hear of pocket tweet, pocket dial? I have an iPhone 5. The keys are small. It's very, very sensitive," and claiming the tweets were the result of an oversensitive phone screen.

"I rarely drink. The last time I was ever drunk was at my bachelor party, and that was, what, 28 years ago, 27 years ago," he added.