Lauren E. Pierce, president of the University of Texas Austin College Republicans, has an important message for her fellow conservatives: don't shoot President Obama! Okay? Even though it's "tempting," as she puts it.

This afternoon, Pierce Tweeted from her account:

Y'all as tempting as it may be, don't shoot Obama. We need him to go down in history as the WORST president we've EVER had! #2012.

The Tweet was a reference to a bizarre shooting at the White House. Pierce has since apologized and set her Twitter account to private. But her fellow College Republicans are sticking up for her! "[S]he's made a positive statement in a way," Vice-President Cassie Wright said, which is... technically true? (Don't shoot the president! Positive messaging!) Pierce told ABC News that her Tweet was a "joke" and that shooting Obama would "only make the situation worse." Okay! We'll at least give her points for not being racist, which is more than we can say for the dozens of other low-level Republican functionaries whose big careless internet gaffes have earned them brief national attention.

[ABC News, image via AP]