The beating of a dead horse is an expression often used when people continue talking about the same subject over and over and over. Kind of like those adorable little Bush twins who were caught trying to buy alcohol with another person’s identification at a night club last week in Texas.

Their father must be so proud after all the crazy things he’s been accused of doing in college. Are his daughters trying to follow in his footsteps?

These two 19 year-old college students made a huge mistake trying to buy alcohol with someone else’s identification, but the people trying to analyze the situation on TV shows and newspapers are doing far worse.

Covering the initial story is what the media does and there is no fault in that, but when media groups continue to run stories for days when it won’t be an afterthought a couple weeks from now, that is.

For all practical purposes, this story is gossip about an important figure’s children. Had this been two everyday kids, their names might have appeared in the paper once, but because they are Bush’s daughters I am still writing about them a week later, and I’m not the only one.

The President of the United States’ daughters are obviously watched closer than any other college students in the nation, but do we really want to hear every mistake they make for the next four years?

There is no argument that what the twins did wasn’t reckless, irresponsible, stupid, or any other adjective people want to place there, but they are college students and sometimes college students take unwarranted risks. After all, this is supposed to be the wildest time of their lives.

The time when presidents’ daughters are perfect and don’t get in trouble like Chelsea Clinton are over; it’s the twins’ time now. These girls are trying to enjoy their college life and sometimes people make reckless decisions.

These are the daughters of a president thought by many to have done more partying in college than studying. Are we expected to believe that his daughters are going to be any different? Probably not.

The problem is the nation sees these two girls as the daughters of the President of the United States, but they are just two regular kids; regular kids people read about in the police blotters of local papers whenever they do something wrong.

In the last week, many people have tried to figure out why these girls would try something like this. In reality, though, it is very simple. They thought they would get away with it. The twins didn’t get away with it, but if they take responsibility for their actions people have no right to criticize them for a week.

The twins are not trying to use their power, which their dad has, to get off of on this crime because they made an error in judgment.

Being the daughters of the president isn’t exactly what one would call a walk in the park; always being followed by the Secret Service, having the media watch your every move.

These girls are being held to a higher standard because their father is the president, but is that really fair?

Many people have stereotypes that someone coming from a poor neighborhood is likely to do poorly in school, commit crimes and be poor when they become older, but there are many people who come from this situation and get good grades, go to college, become successful and never commit a crime.

It works in reverse as well; just because the twins come from a family that has seen two of its members become President of the United States doesn’t mean they are perfect.

This also doesn’t mean they are hoodlums who are going to commit crimes and drop out of college. Barbara and Jenna are in an area where it would be nearly impossible to live up to the standards that society has set for them.

I say let the daughters live their lives to the fullest, since this is probably not the last mistake either of the twins are going to make during their lives. That being said, though, we don’t need to hear about it more than once.

David Frost is a sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communication from Des Moines, Iowa.