The Twitter account for Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) posted and then swiftly deleted Sunday what it later described as an “unauthorized” meme mocking the Democratic district attorney at the center of his recent indictment.
The deleted tweet included an image of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmburg, whom Perry is accused of threatening to cut her budget in an effort to force her to resign after she was arrested for drunken driving. Lehmburg’s face was photoshopped into an advertisement for Dos Equis beer.
“I don’t always drive drunk at 3x the legal blood alcohol limit … but when I do, I indict Gov. Perry for calling me out about it. I am the most drunk Democrat in Texas,” the text on the picture read.
Perry’s account then sent out another tweet saying that the first post was “unauthorized” and that the governor did not condone it.
A tweet just went out from my account that was unauthorized. I do not condone the tweet and I have taken it down.
— Rick Perry (@GovernorPerry) September 1, 2014
Here’s a screen grab of the original tweet:
As the Houston Chronicle pointed out, the meme actually mischaracterized Perry’s indictment — Lehmburg did not indict the governor. Lehmburg actually recused herself from the case, and a Republican judge then appointed lawyer Michael McCrum to serve as a special prosecutor.
