A senior
Republican staffer is resigning after her comments that the Obama daughters should "try showing a little class"
caused a firestorm of criticism on social media this weekend.
Elizabeth
Lauten, communications director for Tennessee Rep. Stephen Fincher,
She faced
heavy backlash when she wrote a Thanksgiving-Day screed against the Obama
daughters, as well as the President and first lady, on Facebook that quickly
went viral across the web. In it, she scolded Malia and Sasha Obama, 16 and 13
years old, respectively, for what she said was their inappropriate outfits and
their bored looks during Wednesday's turkey pardoning ceremony, which they
attended alongside their father. Continue..
"Dear Sasha and Malia: I get
you're both in those awful teen years, but you're a part of the First Family,
try showing a little class. At least respect the part you play," Lauten wrote in the post.
"Then
again, your mother and father don't respect their positions very much, or the
nation for that matter," she added. "So I'm guessing you're coming up
a little short in the 'good role model' department."
Lauten
went on to tell them to "stretch yourself...rise to the occasion" and
"act like being in the White House matters to you."
"Dress
like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar. And certainly don't make faces
during televised, public events," she concluded.
Hours
later, after her comments picked up steam on social media, Lauten deleted it
and wrote another post apologizing for her comments.
White
House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said during his briefing with reporters on
Monday that while he was "taken aback" by her comments, he thought
her apology was "appropriate."
"I
was taken aback there was a political operative on Capitol Hill who did use the
occastion of a Thanksgiving-themed event to criticize members of the First
Family," Earnest said. "I was a bit surprised by that. But I will say
that she has posted an apology to her website, and I think that was an
appropriate thing to do."
Neither
Fincher nor his chief of staff, Jessica Carter, responded to requests for
comment via email.
But
Lauten found few defenders this weekend, even drawing a rebuke from
Republican National Committee Communications Director Sean Spicer via Twitter
on Monday morning.
"Children,
especially the first daughters, are off limits," he tweeted.
Spicer
was far more displeased, however, with the way the comments were covered by the
media than he was with the comments themselves.
"While
the comments were inappropriate and insensitive, the mainstream media's
coverage of this story is appalling. In over 20 years in politics I have never
seen 1 of the countless inappropriate comments by Democrats ever covered to a
faction of this," Spicer added.
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