Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse ...

Six minutes must seem like an eternity in front of the camera, especially listening to your father crack bad jokes.  Any normal person could pardon the President's daughters for fidgeting and rolling their eyes while waiting for their father to finish this traditional executive order, but not Elizabeth Lauten, who used the opportunity to launch a screed on bad parenting.

Ms. Lauten has since retracted her facebook post and issued an apology.  Not that it did her any good after this major breach of protocol.  The President's family is regarded as off limits (just ask John McCain) except for the gentle barb here and there.  Elizabeth went so far over the line in her critique, that she was called out by fellow conservatives and most likely will lose her job, as I doubt Rep. Stephen Fincher of Tennessee will want this kind of publicity.  She serves as his communications director.

She was quick to make her facebook page private but you can still find her resume on LinkedIn, noting her impressive ACT and SAT scores, knowledge of Latin and Ancient Greek, as well as numerous organizations she is part of, including the Daughters of the American Revolution.  You really have to wonder how such a smart woman could make such a stupid comment?

Most of her contempt was directed at Obama.  The girls were no more than a convenient foil for her disgust with the President and First Lady.  Picking on the girls' short dresses and apparent lack of attention (in her mind anyway) point to bad parenting skills, which she readily pointed out.  Elizabeth believes that President Obama has not only failed the country but his children as well.

She tried to distance herself from this politically motivated attack in her apology, but it too fell short of the mark, as Elisa Doucette points out.

Ms. Lauten hasn't been the first to attack President Obama's family.  Conservatives have long regarded Michelle Obama as fair game, particularly her fight for better school lunches.  Like the President's legislation, conservatives have gone out of their way to defeat any legislation that would offer better nutritional standards for school lunches, which Michelle has advocated since coming to the White House, not to mention attack her personally.

Even the daughters have come under right wing criticism for having a secret service detail. If you dare, you can find much worse things said in the extreme right wing blogosphere, where anything related to Obama is under constant derision, not least of all his family.

I suppose Elizabeth Lauten wanted to hurt Obama in the wake of executive orders regarding immigration and global warming that have Republicans once again clamoring about impeachment.  Since the President appears oblivious to these rants, she goes after his daughters, much like the NRA did when Obama announced he was issuing executive orders in regard to gun control.  In the end, she only hurt herself.  Not that anyone will feel sorry for her.

PS:  The RNC apparently feels sorry for Lauten.  Sean Spicer, the Republican communications director, feels that Elizabeth Lauten is the real victim here, not Sasha and Malia, considering it a "partisan attack" on the part of the "mainstream media" to focus so heavily on Lauten's comments.  She has since resigned as Fincher's communications director, and will no doubt take her case to Fox News.