Adamantly anti-gay state Senator and candidate for lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick (R-Houston), shocked conservative loyalists on Twitter earlier this week when he posted:
The self-proclaimed “Christian first, Conservative second and Republican third,” candidate sought to fix the message with a major ‘whoops!’ moment:
oops! #twittertypo. We have a new job opening on our campaign: social media intern. Send resume to contact (at) http://t.co/8rERPM4IXE
— Dan Patrick (@DanPatrick) February 26, 2014
And in case anyone was still wondering, Patrick followed the message by stressing his anti-marriage equality views:
I want to re-emphasize my long held position: Marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman. Period. Join us : http://t.co/8rERPM4IXE
— Dan Patrick (@DanPatrick) February 26, 2014
But the damage was done and the typo had already ignited a firestorm of mockery, from shots by late-night comedians like Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel (“He deleted that Tweet and immediately posted this one: ‘Opps, my boyfriend JEFFREY is SUCH a prankster!’ #twitterboner,” joked Kimmel) to a #patricktwittertypos hashtag stream:
I am a strong fecal conservative that will protect our border from the beagle immigrants. #patricktwittertypos
— Drew Stanley (@nameverb) February 27, 2014
“I’m the only one in this race who will protect your second amendment right to arm bears.” #patricktwittertypos
— Harold Cook (@HCookAustin) February 27, 2014
Today I introduced a bill requiring every pregnant woman to get a telegram. #patricktwittertypos.
— Cherry Kugle (@cherrykugle) February 27, 2014
Patrick’s accidental endorsement of gay marriage may have some wondering if the mistake was a mere technical flub or perhaps a Freudian slip?
This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2014.