With all the coverage last week of revelations against Herman Cain and Rick Perry’s “was he or wasn’t he drunk” speech in New Hampshire, you might have missed an embarrassment that hits a little closer to home for Texans.

State Representative Larry Taylor, the chair of the House Republican Caucus, was forced to apologize for using an anti-Semitic ethnic slur during a legislative committee hearing last week.

While questioning witnesses before an official committee hearing, Taylor said “Don’t nitpick, don’t try to Jew them down.” Taylor admitted it was “probably a bad term” and then apologized for using a phrase he described as offensive to “many people.”

Hey Larry Taylor! Get a clue. Bigoted language is not offensive to “many” people. It’s just plain offensive. Does it have to take a trip to the Bigot-O-Tron 9000 on the Colbert Report to figure this out?

The news about Larry Taylor’s anti-Semitic slur quickly spread to Time.com, Politico, Texas Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Huffington Post, and many other outlets. Faced with bad press, Larry Taylor made a second apology to the Anti-Defamation League. Texans deserve better from our elected leaders, and we call upon Governor Perry, Speaker Joe Straus, and Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst to show leadership by disavowing Larry Taylor’s anti-Semitic slur.