On Twitter, 14 seconds can be a lifetime. It can even be long enough to get someone fired.
That’s how long a lewd tweet from Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador’s account lasted before being taken down. Unfortunately for the guy who reportedly tweeted it, longtime spokesman Phil Hardy, it was out there long enough for him to lose his job, according to The Idaho Statesman.
Hardy sent the tweet during a Super Bowl promotion for the show Two Broke Girls, in which the title characters wore skimpy outfits and pole-danced. Watch it here:
Hardy’s message: “Me Likey Broke Girls.”
While it is unknown whether Hardy did this intentionally, for those familiar with managing multiple Twitter accounts on Tweetdeck, this is a mistake of nightmares. It's all-too easy to confuse your organization's account with your personal one.
And while the tweet was quickly removed, nothing gets past the watchful eye of the Sunlight Foundation. Their Politwoops site, a project to catch messaging changes from U.S. politicians, posted the comment, saying, “For Rep. Raúl R. Labrador, the most memorable moment seemed to come during an ad for CBS's 2 Broke Girls involving a stripper pole, clothes being ripped off, and a cherry being seductively consumed.”
Hardy worked as a regional director and spokesman for Labrador, jobs he also held in the 2010 campaign. Labrador is a go-to Republican to talk about immigration reform, raising the question: How might the representative handle his influx of calls without his usual spokesman?
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