The Politwoops team has been compiling a database of deleted tweets for six months now -- so, though today marks the service's official launch, Politwoops has already recorded over 3,000 deleted tweets for your schadenfreudistic enjoyment. These include: Senator John McCain mocking the tears of Vladimir Putin after the latter's re-election; Newt Gingrich's campaign account tweeting, Dole-like, in the third person; and Representative Jeff Miller tweeting a link to a Facebook poll asking, "Was Obama born in the United States?"

The deleted tweets vary from the embarrassing-and-humanizing to the horrifically awkward ... but, either way, they add another layer of accountability to the churning machine of political communications. While we probably did not need another reminder that politicians make mistakes, there's a certain power in seeing the deleted tweets collected into this odd archive of political anti-matter.

And there's a power as well, of course, in the pols knowing that archive exists.

There's also, most importantly, an informational element to the service. While it is hugely instructive to know that a politician or staffer has deleted a given tweet ... it could be even more instructive to figure out why a given tweet was deleted. The reasons for some deletions -- typos, pocket tweets, hacked accounts -- are obvious. Some, however, are less so. Why did Tom Graves delete his tweet about his date night with his wife? Why did Kathy Hochul delete hers about a day spent at a cancer institute? What revelations lurk behind all these thought-better-of messages? Politwoops could be a gold mine for reporters and for anyone else with an interest in keeping officials accountable. There will always be follow the money; now there's follow the tweet.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.