"We’re not going to apologize for the posts that show up on our Facebook page," said Smith, who described the post as "thought-provoking."
"I don’t know who did it, but I’m not going to start a witch hunt to find out who did."
"We're at the 60th anniversary [sputnik: yes, we know it's actually the 70th anniversary!] of dropping the atom bomb in order to destroy an insidious enemy that was intent on destroying American lives, and we face a similar enemy who has vowed to destroy American lives, and I think that's the topic that the American people are focused on," said Miller's spokesman.
The offending photo showed an exploding mushroom cloud, and the caption,
"Japan has been at peace with the US since August 9, 1945."
"It's time we made peace with the Muslim world."
Sid Miller spokesman: No apologies for atomic Facebook post. @Jmalewitz reports: http://t.co/LfBzozT1ds pic.twitter.com/3Jk7u3ztSz
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) August 17, 2015
The image was shared on Miller's page over the weekend, from which it has since been deleted. It originally appeared on the Facebook page 'The Patriots IV Drip 2,' on August 15, since when it has been shared 9,949 times and received 1,319 likes.
Thank you my friends for your continued support. Today, we passed the 106,000 mark on Facebook. I appreciate you standing with me and for Texas.
Posted by Sid Miller on Tuesday, 18 August 2015
The commissioner, who is currently on a trade visit to China, has received substantial support despite the controversy caused by the post; on Wednesday he thanked followers for their support, and celebrated getting more than 106,000 likes for his Facebook page.
