Merged Brownback cries about teen tweet

[excaza]

The girl being smart enough to call the guy a blowhard would be an endorsement of the school system, no?

 

[Unabogie]

Isn't this the kind of thing the Tea Party routinely ascribes to "The One"? The idea that he's some sort of thin skinned authoritarian coming to take away "Our Constitution"? So where are they now in the face of this?

 

[WildCat]

Isn't this the kind of thing the Tea Party routinely ascribes to "The One"? The idea that he's some sort of thin skinned authoritarian coming to take away "Our Constitution"? So where are they now in the face of this?

Have you asked them?

 

[Unabogie]

Have you asked them?

I just did. You mean they don't read the threads on the James Randi forum, like we do?

 

[eeyore1954]

The girl being smart enough to call the guy a blowhard would be an endorsement of the school system, no?

The fact that the tweet claimed she said something she did not should open doors for her politically.

 

[WildCat]

I just did. You mean they don't read the threads on the James Randi forum, like we do?

Has any JREF tea party supporter said that the girl should be fored to apologize?

 

[Skepticemea]

Congratulations. Apologies should be sincere.

 

[eeyore1954]

Isn't this the kind of thing the Tea Party routinely ascribes to "The One"? The idea that he's some sort of thin skinned authoritarian coming to take away "Our Constitution"? So where are they now in the face of this?

Many call him the annoited one in jest, many say he a socialist who wants to change the constitution but I haven't heard thin skinned as a common trait given to the President.

Anyway I always thought reptillian overlords had thick skin.

 

[hgc]

The fact that the tweet claimed she said something she did not should open doors for her politically.

 

[TragicMonkey]

He must be an amazingly popular and beloved governor if that's the nastiest thing said about him, and it was from as influential a source as a high school student, on such a prestigious medium as Twitter. My state's governor gets actual death threats, and he's fairly popular.

 

[Travis]

Streisand Effect for the win!

 

[eeyore1954]

Streisand Effect for the win!

Never heard that effect before but you are correct if nothing had been mentioned no one would have known about it. Personally I don't see how her principal asking her to apologize warrants an article on CNN.

 

[tyr_13]

Never heard that effect before but you are correct if nothing had been mentioned no one would have known about it. Personally I don't see how her principal asking her to apologize warrants an article on CNN.

It doesn't. The governors staff pressuring the principal to make the girl publicly apologize over an opinion on Twitter might be though. It isn't really about the girl or her principle (or principles).

 

[DC]

I'll write it for her:

Dear Gov. Brownback.
I am so very sorry that you suck.
Yours truly,
Emma

 

[eeyore1954]

It doesn't. The governors staff pressuring the principal to make the girl publicly apologize over an opinion on Twitter might be though. It isn't really about the girl or her principle (or principles).

Do we know that happened?

 

[Spindrift]

Another lesson in how to turn nothing into something and have it backfire on you.

She had 65 followers before this, now she has 3000. The governor's office monitors social media for references to Brownback. Nothing wrong with that. However instead of evaluating the situation and letting it go because it's just some high school kid with 65 followers trying to be funny. It would have been unnoticed. Instead, they blow it up into a media event.

 

[tyr_13]

Do we know that happened?

No, but that's what can be inferred from what the student reported. We won't be able to really know unless the principle or the governor's office admits to it. However, it's not unreasonable as it explains what is known. Is there a better explanation?

EDIT: See below.

 

[WildCat]

Do we know that happened?

Yes, we even know the name of the staffer that called the principal - Sherienne Jones-Sontag, Brownback's communications director. She thought the tweet was "disrespectful".

At any rate, she no longer is being asked to apologize:

On Monday, in a statement sent to the Daily News, officials said she would not have to apologize.

“District officials have reviewed recent events surrounding the reported tweet by Shawnee Mission East High School student Emma Sullivan. The district acknowledges a student's right to freedom of speech and expression is constitutionally protected," the statement said.

 

[tyr_13]

Yes, we even know the name of the staffer that called the principal - Sherienne Jones-Sontag, Brownback's communications director. She thought the tweet was "disrespectful".

At any rate, she no longer is being asked to apologize:

Well I was mistaken. Ignore my last post!

 

[hgc]

Do we know that happened?

There is a bit of a game of Telephone (Chinese Whispers, Brits) going on here. The way I heard it in original press stories is that the gov's office complained to the organization that put on the event that the students were participating in, and they, in turn, complained to the school principal. I never read anything about where the idea for a written apology came from. I'm going to assume that it was the principal's idea, until I hear credibly otherwise. Also, I don't see how the principal's demand for an apology, in and of itself, is a violation of the student's rights if there was no threatened punishment for not complying.

I say all the above as a flaming liberal who hates everything that the schoolmarmish governor of Kansas represents and who also sticks up for students' free speech rights at every opportunity. In other words, this story is way overblown.