This story was making the rounds on social media yesterday and it probably won’t turn out to be all that significant, but it serves as an example of how easily a political candidate’s fortunes can shift following a momentary lapse in judgment. Out in Oklahoma, Democrat Abby Broyles is running for a House seat in the state’s 5th Congressional District. (She previously made an unsuccessful Senate run.) The former television news anchor seems to be a legitimate contender with a chance at being elected, or at least she did until this week. Unfortunately for her, if you do an online search for her name this morning you won’t see much about her platform, fundraising, or related campaign issues. Instead, you’ll see stories about her drunkenly vomiting in a teenage girl’s shoe at a Valentine’s Day sleepover and berating the children who attended the party. (Associated Press)

A U.S. House candidate in Oklahoma has apologized after reports that she became intoxicated at a Valentine’s Day weekend sleepover for middle-school-aged girls, berated several of the children and vomited in a hamper.

Democrat Abby Broyles, 32, told television station KFOR that she had an adverse reaction after drinking wine and taking sleep medication given to her by a friend.

“Instead of helping me sleep, I hallucinated,” Broyles told the station in a televised interview. “And I don’t remember anything until I woke up or came to, and I was throwing up in a hamper.”

Broyles had originally denied that these events even happened. She later changed her tune when video emerged of her doing precisely what had been claimed. Broyles asserts that she had taken some sleeping medication given to her by a friend and drank some wine with it and now has no memory of the evening’s events.

There was reportedly more going on than just vomiting in a shoe and a clothes hamper. Broyles was reportedly using profanity in front of the children and acting in a verbally abusive fashion. She allegedly made fun of one girl’s acne and commented negatively about another girl’s Hispanic ethnicity. She still claims that she “doesn’t believe” she actually said those things because that’s “not who she is.” But she also admits that she doesn’t remember the events of the evening so she can’t say for sure. Either way, she has apologized and says she has no intention of dropping out of the race.

Before proceeding, I will take a moment to offer a confession of my own that probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows me or follows me on social media. As a young man, I spent several years as a sailor and was frequently a member of packs of staggering Navy men who swerved through the streets of some decadent Asian-Pacific party towns, hanging out in bars that would probably consider it a compliment if you referred to them as “a dive.” None of this involved children’s sleepovers (thankfully), but let’s just say that I’m aware of the need to inspect my own glass house before hurling stones.

With that said, however, I was a young man newly unleashed into a world where being able to “go steaming” at night was almost expected of you, provided you were “man enough” to get up on time in the morning and show up for inspection. Abby Broyles is a professional woman in her 30s with a college degree and a decade of work as a journalist under her belt. And now she’s a congressional candidate. The bar is probably assumed to be a bit higher for her. (Pardon the insensitive use of the word “bar” there. It’s probably a tender subject just now.)

Still, I understand that mistakes happen. I’ve never taken a sleeping pill in my life, so I have no idea how they react with wine. But as far as her language “not being who she is” goes, there’s an old saying that reminds us, “in vino veritas.” (Literally, “in wine, truth.”) This likely doesn’t give the voters a lot to go on and perhaps this unfortunate event will eventually sink back into the rearview mirror. But I would be deeply surprised if it doesn’t show up during the campaign further down the stretch if the race appears to be close.