— Texas Democrats (@texasdemocrats) November 1, 2016 ">Sid Miller on Tuesday used the "c" word (only not abbreviated) to describe Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The tweet was related to a new national poll showing both candidates for president, Clinton and Donald Trump, neck-and-neck. The tweeted missive posted the percentage of support for each candidate, except that instead of Clinton's name, it described her as the "c" word.



When contacted by Texas Tribune for an explanation, Miller initially claimed his account had been hacked. Later, he conceded that the tweet came from his office but blamed it on a staffer who didn't study the re-tweeted message for a bad word. Commissioner Miller finds the term vulgar and offensive and apologizes to anyone who may have seen it.

— Sid Miller (@MillerForTexas) November 1, 2016 Miller said he delegated the duties of tweeting to his staff members since he was busy all day Tuesday: "I said, 'Why don't y'all just do some retweets?'" Miller told The Texas Tribune. "They didn't notice it had a derogatory term in it and they tweeted it out."



Regardless, the message drew wide condemnation, even from those in Miller's own GOP ranks: "No true Texas gentleman would ever talk this way," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. The original tweet, which Miller said was copy-and-pasted from another user, purported to show the results of a poll, with Republican nominee Donald Trump earning 44 percent support and Clinton getting 43 percent. In place of Clinton's name was the obscenity.



The tweet, the Texas Tribune reported, was deleted within 15 minutes of posting it, substituted with another tweet: "@MillerForTexas HAS BEEN HACKED. The disgusting re-tweet has been removed and we have changed all account passwords. Be advised."

Just a few minutes after claiming the Twitter account had been hacked, Miller's office issued a statement saying, "The tweet was taken down as soon as possible. Commissioner Miller finds the term vulgar and offensive and apologizes to anyone who may have seen it."

Miller sits on Trump's Agricultural Advisory Committee, and has emerged as one of the GOP nominee's most visible supporters in Texas. Miller didn't seem too chastened by the embarrassingly vulgar tweet nor the wide condemnation it prompted. Shortly after the infamous social media message, he tweeted a meme depicting the Oscar Weiner promotional vehicle (it's shaped like a giant hot dog frank on wheels), saying it was now Clinton's campaign bus.