Kids, Think Before You Tweet (About Assassinating the President) [Politics]

Todd Wiseman/The Texas Tribune

Man, you know you've hit the big time when your tweets are reprinted in German.

Yesterday, not long after Pennsylvania state police arrested Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez on suspicion of firing an assault rifle at the White House, a college student in Texas tweeted that while she sympathized with the urge to assassinate President Barack Obama, she still thought it was a bad idea. Except that Lauren E. Pierce isn't just another student. She is (or was, possibly) the president of the University of Texas at Austin College Republicans and secretary of the statewide organization Texas College Republicans. Which perhaps makes this a little bigger than just some random Plan II Honors student musing about President Dubya and a grassy knoll, say.

The tweet was picked up by persons unknown, and within hours, Pierce's 129 characters had literally traveled around the world, or at least the Western Hemisphere. Since then, the Government senior has been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans, accused of fomenting potential murder, and just generally reviled. All that in addition to the seemingly inevitable comments on her appearance: “a bleached blonde with her boobs shoved together and a big toothy smile.”

Of course, Pierce's initial reaction didn't help matters. According to multiple articles, when questioned about her tweet, she “giggled,” (and isn't that just like a “blonde,” hmm, notes this feminist) and dismissed criticism, saying that she was just joking. The response from the Vice President of the UT College Republicans was no improvement either:

“Insofar as she’s a representative [of the College Republicans], maybe it shouldn’t be said, but she’s made a positive statement in a way, ” said Cassie Wright, the group’s vice president.
“I don’t really see anything wrong with it,” Wright added. “It’s just a personal comment, not representative of any group. Just freedom of speech, you know?”

Not long after this, Pierce apologized and deleted her original statement. Her Twitter feed is now private.