U of Iowa apologizes for tweet calling Michele Bachmann a cougar

Michele Bachmann might be a cougar, but you didn't hear it from Iowa.

​Michele Bachmann is finally involved in a gaffe that isn't her fault.

Earlier today, a University of Iowa staffer made a sly allusion to how foxy the future president is, in a rather regrettable reference to a cougar that had recently been spotted in Iowa City.

"I didn't know Bachmann was in town. Bah-dum-bum," read the tweet, with the classic rim-shot sound effects typed out. The tweet, which went out to exactly 256 followers of the UIowaPolitics feed, has since been deleted, and the school is apologizing up and down for it.

Bachmann actually handled this one pretty well, with her campaign putting out a statement that she was flattered to get the "cougar" label, and saying that at her age, she could be called something a lot worse. 

After the tweet went out, and caught the attention of the Associated Press, @UIowaPolitics followed it with another that said, "The University of Iowa apologizes for an inappropriate post to this feed earlier today. We are in the process of removing it." Exactly what "process" they were going through is anyone's guess, but it's gone now.

It didn't even help the feed's popularity: At the moment, they're only up to 259 followers, a disappointing "Bachmann is a cougar" bump.

The Bachmann campaign released this statement in response: "When you are 55 years old, have had 5 children, and been foster mother to 23 children, Michele is grateful when people don't refer to her as The Old Lady in the Shoe."

This is probably the most likable statement the Bachmann campaign will ever put out.

The University of Iowa acknowledged to the Associated Press that it was a university staffer responsible for the tweet, though they didn't clarify whether the tweet was "inappropriate" because it was in poor taste, or because the University of Iowa officially does not think Michele Bachmann is hot enough to rise to the "cougar" label.