Posted on 11/28/2011 10:54:31 AM PST by ConservativeStatement
A Kansas teen who refused to apologize to Gov. Sam Brownback for an insulting tweet got an apology today from the governor himself for his staff’s “over-reaction.”
An unpleasant tweet by Emma Sullivan, 18, was flagged by Brownback’s staff last week. The teen was told by her principal at Shawnee Mission East High School to apologize, but she refused, and the national brouhaha has led to her Twitter following soar from 60 to more than 6,000.
“My staff over-reacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms,” Brownback said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
The governor did the right thing.
I’m impressed.
What did she say?
Gov Brownback showed some class, perhaps this teenager should as well.
She told him “he sucked.”
It can only turn out well.
The girl is lucky that she is not busting rocks at the State Prison Farm.
Ugh. What an insufferable little twerp. Now she has much more attention than she deserves. She is a rude girl, not a free speech advocate. She should apologize but should not be forced to do so. She's just showing what low class trash she is, first for the crude post and now for not apologizing for it.
“Teen?”..she’s 18....she can vote, drive...and serve in the military..
If this had been a Dem Governor, she would have been brought to him in a headlock to apologize.
Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts, sucks! My free speech. :-)
Hea Ye; Hear Ye; This is fact, not criticism!!!
Hea Ye; Hear Ye; This is fact, not criticism!!!
Yes, Brownback’s staff overreacted.
Yes, Brownback was slow to react to this, and the story grew legs (was on Drudge).
But I have heard NOBODY defend this student...who was one of a very few (50 I believe), who went to the statehouse to learn about government. She walks away from the experience with a ‘tweet’ about a make-believe encounter with Brownback, where the most intellectual discourse she can muster is ‘sucks’. And to top it off, her family is validating her trashiness by allowing her to go national, to get used and abused by the 24 hr news cycle.
No she did not. Did you read the story or watch the video? She was having a conversation with someone and when asked what she would say she said she would say Brownback sucked. The story says "The tweet was spurred by a discussion she was having with a friend, talking about what they would tell Brownback if they were to meet him." It was a joke between her and her friends.
She said nothing directly to the Gov. What happened was that Brownback's people "monitor" his name on Twitter and Facebook. They complained and then she was pressured to aploogize.
Brownback had anough sense to apologize to this kid for what his staff did. And he damn well should have. His staff has no business messing with anyone just because they post something negative about the Gov. If I was living in that state my question would be why is someone being paid government money to scrape comments about the Gov. off web sites.
The kid may be totally wrong in the head politically. She may be a loon but she has the right to say whatever she wants. The government, on the other hand, does not have the right to slug mouth her for what she says.
If she’d said it to a Democrat, she’d have been forced to apologize and we likely wouldn’t ever have heard about her.
Dixie Chix got months of free PR for bashing a Republican president.
Let’s say it:
This “teen” won the PR lottery for bashing a Republican.
Good move by the governor, though somewhat belated. A political leader never looks good leaning on a foul-mouthed teenybopper, and the higher his office, the worse he comes off. Even if it was just overzealous staff, the buck stops with the governor, so I’m glad he intervened directly. That said, the little scamp needs to have her mouth washed out with soap.
>>Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts, sucks! My free speech. :-)<<
I love free speech!!!!
Amen.
“Not so to Brownback’s office. His team, which monitors comments on Facebook and Twitter containing the governor’s name, reported Sullivan’s tweet to Youth in Government, the program’s organizer.”
This is disturbing.
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