Texas Republican Accidentally Endorses Gay Marriage
Texas State Senator Dan Patrick (R), who is also running for lieutenant governor, accidentally endorsed gay marriage on Twitter Wednesday.
"MARRIAGE= ONE MAN & ONE MAN. Enough of these activist judges. FAVORITE if you agree. I know the silent majority out there is with us!" Patrick's official twitter account, @DanPatrick, tweeted. Patrick was responding to U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia's decision to strike down Texas' ban on gay marriage as unconstitutional. Earlier, he tweeted a campaign promise: "as Lieutenant Governor I'll fight activist judges and defend our traditional Texas values."
Ten minutes after posting the typo tweet, Patrick's account deleted it and replaced it with an accurate statement of the state senator's beliefs. In those ten minutes, however, the typo tweet found 29 retweets and 28 favorites.
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"MARRIAGE= ONE MAN & ONE WOMAN. Enough of these activist judges. FAVORITE if you agree. I know the silent majority out there is with us!" The second tweet found 197 retweets and 484 favorites at press time.
An hour after the typo, Patrick's account admitted its mistake. "oops! #twittertypo. We have a new job opening on our campaign: social media intern. Send resume to contact (at) danpatrick.org," ran a subsequent tweet. The self-deprecating humor garnered this follow-up tweet 280 retweets and 145 favorites at press time.
One pro-gay marriage twitter user responded, "Oh no! Did they accidentally say marriage is only for one man and one woman?" This tweet found 6 retweets and 101 favorites at press time.
"I want to re-emphasize my long held position: Marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman. Period. Join us : danpatrick.org," Patrick tweeted, further solidifying his stance on the issue. This final tweet found 68 retweets and 89 favorites at press time.
In response to the many tweets, one user exclaimed "methinks the lady doth protest too much." This quip found 9 retweets and 74 favorites at press time.
Contrary to the twitter joke, a spokesman for the Patrick campaign explained that no jobs were lost due to this brief, entertaining social media twist-up. "Nobody got fired," Spokesman Logan Spence told the Dallas Morning News. "Dan's a little more forgiving than that."
The candidate for Lieutenant Governor has recently come under fire for allegedly hiring an illegal immigrant who reportedly forged his employment documents. Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, also running for Lieutenant Governor, released documents pertaining to the case on Monday through his campaign.
Patrick admitted employee Miguel Andrade, who worked at the state senator's sports bar from 1983 to 1985. Andrade testified to telling Patrick he was illegally in the country at the time, but Patrick has not commented on that allegation. "Senator Patrick said last week he vaguely remembered Andrade as an employee but did not recall writing a letter for him," CBS Local's Ted Oberg reported.
"Despite Mr. Patterson and his private investigator's efforts to sensationalize it, nothing new has been brought to light," the Patrick campaign responded. The newly released documents "do not present any new facts or evidence." Andrade denied allegations that Patterson paid him to come forward.
