Rick Perry deletes tweet about drunk Democrat. Why did he bother?
Texas Gov. Rick Perry ordered an unflattering tweet of a political rival deleted from his account. But frankly, it wasn't so far out of line from his other attacks.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry ordered an unflattering tweet of a political rival deleted from his account. But frankly, it wasn't so far out of line from his other attacks.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry took back a tweet on Sunday. Why did he bother?
We ask that because the disparaging tweet at issue kind of sums up his political strategy for the moment.
First, the background: On Sunday night Governor Perry鈥檚 verified Twitter account posted an image of Rosemary Lehmberg, the Democratic prosecutor at the heart of Perry鈥檚 recent indictment on charges of public corruption.
The (doctored) image of Ms. Lehmberg was unflattering. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 always drive drunk at 3X the legal alcohol limit ... but when I do, I indict Gov. Perry for calling me out about it. I am the most drunk Democrat in Texas.鈥�
As Chris Cillizza notes at 鈥淭he Fix,鈥� this was a Twitter 鈥渙ops.鈥�
The tweet did not represent an accurate account of the indictment. Lehmberg did indeed drive while very inebriated, and was arrested, convicted, and served time for it. Perry publicly demanded she resign from the Public Integrity Unit in Travis County, Texas, which investigates corruption among Texas politicians statewide.
She refused to resign, in part because Perry could have appointed a Republican in her place. In turn, Perry said he鈥檇 veto funding for her unit is she did not step down. She did not, he vetoed the money, and there we are. A special prosecutor appointed by a Republican judge concluded that the Perry鈥檚 threat was an illegal coercion of a public official, and brought the case.
Anyway, after the mock photo of Lehmberg went into the twittersphere under Perry鈥檚 name, he apparently thought better of it. Or most likely, he saw it after an underling had already put it out. So he ordered it deleted.
鈥淎 tweet just went out from my account that was unauthorized. I do not condone the tweet and I have taken it down,鈥� read a followup tweet.
Perry must have decided that inserting Lehmberg into a photo with a beer bottle was too harsh. But is it really worse than the mug shot T-shirts Perry鈥檚 campaign is selling?
The front of those shirts has Perry鈥檚 mug shot, which is pretty good. He鈥檚 smiling just enough, and well-dressed. 鈥淲ANTED鈥� is stamped over the picture, and underneath it says, 鈥淔OR SECURING THE BORDER AND DEFEATING DEMOCRATS.鈥�
The back has Lehmberg鈥檚 mug shot. It is not a flattering photo, given her state at the time. On the shirt the word 鈥淕UILTY鈥� is superimposed on the image. Underneath is written, 鈥淒RIVING WHILE INTOXICATED AND PERVERSION OF JUSTICE鈥�.
The campaign is mailing these out in return for $25. If they are in better taste than the deleted tweet, it is not by much. It鈥檚 easy to see how a Perry staffer might think it was OK to hit the send button on the 鈥渕ost drunk Democrat鈥� tweet.
The twitter feed in question is Perry鈥檚 personal account, so perhaps there is a legal or tonal issue. The rest of the feed is pretty bland. It鈥檚 full of tweets about meetings with foreign officials, thanks for support from other US politicians, and so forth.
But given his campaign鈥檚 evident desire to frame his indictment as Perry versus a Democratic prosecutor who鈥檚 been convicted of DUI, 聽it does not look to us as if Perry is going to suddenly soften up in advance of an expected run for president.