Rick Perry's Terrible Tweet About A Texas Democrat

We know times are rough, Rick Perry, but maybe you — or your staff — should stay off Twitter until this whole indictment thing blows over. On Sunday, Rick Perry tweeted a picture mocking a Texas Democrat, and it wasn't pretty. The disparaging photo was of Rosemary Lehmberg, the Travis County district attorney who's at the center of Perry's recent indictment. The Texas governor was indicted on Aug. 15 by an Austin-based grand jury on felony charges of abuse of power and coercion of a public servant.

Perry's indictment has been characterized as an ongoing political dispute between the governor and the liberal Lehmberg, who represents the Democratic strong-hold of Austin. Lehmberg was arrested in April 2013 for driving under the influence; her blood-alcohol level was reportedly three times over the legal limit. Perry called for Lehmberg to resign following her arrest, threatening to veto funds from the public integrity unit that she oversees, but Lehmberg refused. The governor then stripped the unit of its funding, leading to the recent abuse of power charges.

On Sunday, Perry tweeted a picture of Lehmberg from his authorized personal Twitter account. The photoshopped pictured mocked her past drinking habit by calling her "the most drunk Democrat in Texas." He also criticized his indictment. According to The Houston Chronicle, the tweet was removed about an hour later, and replaced with an apology.

The governor has not tweeted since he posted the apology. The two other Twitter accounts ran by Perry's staff — @TexGov and @TeamRickPerry — did not comment on the tweet.

But the damage, it seems, was already done. Perry received a ton of blowback across social media for not only his original tweet-picture, but also for his "unauthorized" comment.

Perry's office has yet to release a statement about the tweet. The embattled governor, who is still eyeing a 2016 presidential bid, said in August that he plans on fighting the charges against him, calling the indictment "partisan political theatrics" used by the state's Democrats.

I wholeheartedly and unequivocally stand behind my veto, and will continue to defend this lawful action of my executive authority as governor. We don't settle political differences with indictments in this country. ... This indictment amounts to nothing more than an abuse of power and I cannot, and will not, allow that to happen. I intend to fight against those who would erode our state's constitution and laws purely for political purposes, and I intend to win.