Representative Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.)'s Twitter bio lists him as a champion of several causes, notably civil rights, women and minority issues, and animal welfare. Notably absent from this admirable list of causes he supports is "maintaining some form of decorum on social media." This became evident on Sunday night, when Cohen retweeted a tweet asking if former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was the "a--hole of the day." Rather than rebuke the harsh language in the original tweet, the Representative added that he believes that Rumsfeld is in fact the a--hole of the century.
“@ResistGOP: Is Donald Rumsfeld Asshole of the Day (again)? http://t.co/zJhRiYJV8D #UnitedBlue” no The Century!
— Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) April 7, 2014
This is not Cohen's first major Twitter misfire: in July of 2013, he generated controversy when he tweeted that one of his African-American constituents referred to him as "black." Cohen had recently discovered that he was not the father of a girl he claimed was his daughter.
While it is certainly fine to dislike or disagree with someone, it's not too much to ask of a member of Congress to watch their language on Twitter. There are about a thousand more polite ways Rep. Cohen could have conveyed his displeasure with Rumsfeld.
Perhaps it's time to hire a social media manager?