Congressman says Cyndi Lauper tweet was to trick media

Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen defended his Lauper tweet Friday, saying it was meant to get back at "gotcha" journalism.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen claims that he deleted a tweet about Cyndi Lauper because he wanted to teach the press a lesson.
The Tennessee Democrat held a press conference Friday to explain his tweet in which he called the 47-year-old singer "hot" following a White House event at which Lauper performed Tuesday night.
The tweet read: "@cyndilauper great night, couldn't believe how hot u were. see you again next Tuesday. try a little tenderness."

The tweet was quickly deleted, but not before being spotted by the Sunlight Foundation website Politwoops, which archives all deleted tweets by members of Congress.
Cohen's tweet has drawn attention in part because of a past Twitter controversy. During the State of the Union this year, Cohen sent a tweet thanking a young woman for tuning in, calling her a "beautiful girl" and adding "Ilu" — Internet shorthand for "I love you."
It turned out the woman was not a paramour like former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's Argentine mistress — as some had speculated — but a daughter Cohen had only learned about in recent years and shielded from public view.
"Just because she's posed in a bikini, it was assumed I'm screwing her," Cohen, who has never been married, told the Daily Beast on Friday. "It hurt my daughter and my relationship with her."

Politico reports that Cohen called the Lauper tweet a "joke" and characterized it as a kind of revenge on the media for its coverage of the earlier tweet to his daughter.
"Two months ago, my family was personally hurt and victimized by sensationalized fact-less speculation masquerading as journalism," Cohen said, and he hoped the new attention highlighted a need for "journalistic integrity."