UPDATE: Elizabeth Lauten has told NBC News that she will resign from her role as communications director for Congressman Stephen Fincher of Tennessee.
Slut-shaming teenage girls? Unacceptable. Slut-shaming teenage girls who happen to be the daughters of President Obama, and all for no good reason? Still unacceptable, and hopefully grounds for GOP staffer Elizabeth Lauten to be fired and thrown out on her judgmental ass.
Here's the deal: Malia and Sasha Obama joined their father this week for his annual pardon of two spared-from-Thanksgiving turkeys. The girls — who are 16 and 13, respectively — had very little airtime, simply standing to the side and letting Dad do his thing. Despite reports from Us Weekly that the First Daughters were rolling their eyes, the girls were out of shot for most of the video and didn't seem visibly annoyed at any point.
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However, Lauten, who is Congressman Stephen Fincher's communications director, took it upon herself to send an open letter to the Obama girls. She's apparently an expert on class, so she chose the super-classy route of posting it on her Facebook page. Here's her statement to the girls, which has since been deleted:
In her spare time when @DCGopGirl is not doing work for @RepFincherTN08 she shames teenagers on Facebook pic.twitter.com/jgeuxJqlYW
— Yesha (@YeshaCallahan) November 28, 2014
So, yeah. A grown woman who is paid to communicate effectively just told two young girls that they look like they belong in a bar. (By the way, Lauten, when she's not busy tweeting about Dancing with the Stars, spends a lot of time talking about her fondness for "pink, green, and pearls.") She also thinks that every person in Ferguson should have been thrown in jail.
Our faith in humanity was restored when Lauten received lots of backlash for the offensive tweet. She later issued an apology (also since-deleted) on Facebook.
"I reacted to an article and quickly judged the two young ladies in a way that I would never have wanted to be judged myself as a teenager," Lauten wrote. "After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents, and re-reading my words online, I can see more clearly how hurtful my words were. Please know that these judgmental feelings truly have no pace [sic] in my heart. Furthermore, I'd like to apologize to all of those who I have hurt and offended with my words, and pledge to learn and grow (and I assure you I have) from this experience."
Can the Obama girls get that in writing? Stay classy, Lauten. (Gawker)
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