Brownback's office right to complain about student's tweet
Barb ShellyI suspect a lot of Thanksgiving conversations got around to the way Gov. Sam Brownback’s office responded to a snarky tweet by a high school student who visited the Kansas state Capitol on a Youth in Government trip.
This will probably surprise some people, but I’m with the governor on this one.
For those who haven’t read this story, Brownback made a few remarks to the visiting students. Shawnee Mission East senior Emma Sullivan tweeted: “Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person#heblowsalot.” Brownback’s spokeswoman, Sherriene Jones-Sontag contacted the Youth in Government program and complained. Her gripe was passed along to the school principal, who reamed out Sullivan and told her to write a letter of apology.
Brownback and Jones-Sontag are catching heat for being overly sensitive, not having better things to do than monitor tweets, getting a teenager in trouble and meddling with freedom of speech.
But here’s the deal. Sullivan certainly has the right to send a dumb message out over the Internet. But Brownback’s office has the right to be offended that a student would act disrespectfully in a forum designed to promote students’ understanding of government. Sherriene-Jones had the right to complain. And the school has the right to be embarrassed and ask the student to apologize.
It’s all part of the great raucous arena known as freedom of expression, and the continuing debate over where a line is crossed. Frankly, as someone who recoils at seeing the First Lady of the nation booed at a public appearance, an ex-president publicly taunted as he leaves office, and the president of the United States heckled during a State-of-the-Union address, I don’t mind seeing the governor of Kansas take a stand.
Tom Ryan
Crossroads, Kansas City
1 year, 6 months agoWell said, Barb…we all have the option to take a stand. Some stands have more power than others. Read in the NY Times today that someone in Thailand received a 20 year sentence for tweets against the King there. One usually cannot go wrong by just being nice.
Phil Cardarella
1 year, 6 months agoActually, no one objects that the governor or his staff was offended, or questions their right to be. And, I agree that she should have been more courteous.
What you fail to recognize is the element of intimidation that followed. Contacting the principal carried the obvious threat that this girl’s school record and chances for college might be impacted — and Brownback’s people know that. Forcing an apology — and let’s be serious, with his funding policies, schools feel threatened — is WAY out of line.
Part of the First Amendment is the right to be free from the government punishing or intimidating a citizen for his or her speech. That is why you are free to criticize any government official without fear that The Star will find itself surrounded by stormtroopers — or your advertisers visited by the Governor’s folks hinting about raising their taxes or auditing their books.
Yeah, a rude Congressman heckled Obama. But, the IRS did not audit him the next day in retaliation. You would be appalled — rightly — if that had happened.
But, that IS what happened here, make no mistake.
Larry Felton Johnson
1 year, 6 months agoGimme a break. So this is the civics lesson for an eighteen year old? That if she sends a snarky tweet which would have been normally read by only 80 people (the number of followers she had before the incident increased it more than ten-fold so far), it might be monitored by the governor’s staff, who will then put pressure on the school principal to force her to sign an insincere apology letter?
Who are the adults here anyhow? If word came to me that a teen had tweeted something like that about me, I’d chuckle and mumble “kids!!!”. Brownback’s reaction, and the school’s reaction, was childish incompetence, and is now officially a national laughing stock.
Jim Lyons
1 year, 6 months agoWhen you are a public figure, your skin should be just a tad thicker than this.
I fully agree with another commenter - this is one terrible lesson about exercising your right to freedom of speech. Apologies coerced by the governor is not an apology at all, by the way. It’s really a way to say - I’m the governor and you’re not, so you’d better kowtow. We tried that once before - the whole King George thing. No public figure is above comments from the public they server, however “impolite” those comments may be.
Guess who will be voting soon? That high school student. Way to lose a vote!
Greg Wimpey
1 year, 6 months agoI’m a Shawnee Mission East alumnus now living out of state. The content of that tweet doesn’t impress me, but the reactions of the governor’s office and the school seem to have been out of proportion. Does Brownback have his staff combing the internet looking for every rude or insulting comment made about him? Why is SME concerned with students (including seniors who might be adults of voting age) expressing political opinions outside of the classroom? Whether the opinions are particularly articulate shouldn’t matter.
Some countries still have laws against insulting the king or sovereign (“lese-majesty”). I expect that the principal of SM East knows we are not living in such a country. The fact that he demanded an apology suggests to me that he needs to think more carefully about this issue.
Mark Hastert
1 year, 6 months agoCareful….. Big Brownie is watching…..
Kevin A Evans
1 year, 6 months agoBrownback’s FAR too thin-skinned here. It’s a teenager, for pity’s sake and it went out to her friends. For him to call the princicpal, waster her time, and then the principal to call the girl in and waste yet more time, I find this nearly unbelievable. He should have far more important things to do than berate her about this. What a child (Brownback).
Mo Rage, the blog http://moravings.blogspot.com
Kevin A Evans
1 year, 6 months agoAnd you say “It’s all part of the great raucous arena known as freedom of expression…” but then come down on the side of the governor, who’s trying to suppress her speech? That doesn’t make sense.
Melissa Carlson
Overland Park
1 year, 6 months agoBarb, I also “recoil” at disrespect. I spent my formative years in Washington, D.C., the daughter of a Pentagon officer. Respect was automatic and not dependent on the object’s opinions or actions. My parents taught us that disrespectful behavior reflected on us as a family. My friends are exceptionally well informed and opinionated. I love a good rally or protest. I’m familiar with Kansas’ capitol steps, especially this year. I’m pleased when I see clever signs speaking truth to power, but often embarrassed by adults lacking self control. I’m not surprised that a student would brag about dissing the governor. Anyone in high school today has grown up with parents, teachers and administrators complaining nearly daily that “the government is interfering” mandating standardized tests. Field trips and leisurely explorations of social studies, arts and music, even recess have been sacrificed for more test prep at the elementary level. Middle schools, where students probably need it most, have lost counselors. Activities in both middle and high school are perpetually threatened by cuts, causing disturbing uncertainty. Kids need constants. What they’re getting is a heavy load of fear that science club or debate, select choir or – heck – bowling club won’t be there next semester. Unfortunately, too often these past few years, money talk has also dominated their home lives. Today a high school senior has been indoctrinated in the blame game by nearly all sources. Modeling adults, it’s natural to express those ingrained opinions. Lacking maturity, she’s likely to embarrass her school, herself and her parents. Personally, I’m glad the action of a single student is still newsworthy. I believe we’ll see the day when our uninhibited anti-government smack talk will make this behavior sadly commonplace.
Matthew Cosgrove
1 year, 6 months agoI’m sorry but twitter is not a forum designed to promote students’ understanding of government.
She never actually said anything to Brownback. So I have no clue why his people got into this.
Preston Major
1 year, 6 months agoKevin Groenhagen: Unless I read the story incorrectly, Brownback’s staff did not contact the girl’s principal.
You clearly did, in fact, read the story incorrectly. Sherriene Jones-Sontag, the governors spokesperson, is the one who contacted the youth in government program, who,in turn, contacted the school principal. But please, don’t let that misreading of the article stop you from trying to insult the reading comprehension of others.
David Graham
1 year, 6 months agoEach actor in this story is free to do what s/he did. It’s called freedom. For all! Get over it.
Regarding the subplot: I don’t think the school should ask the girl to apologize (whether or not it takes other action regarding this matter).
Nor do I think the girl should apologize if she is not sorry for her immature behavior.
But I do hope the girl will understand (someday?) that her behavior made her school look bad.
Preston Major
1 year, 6 months agoDavid Graham: Each actor in this story is free to do what s/he did. It’s called freedom. For all! Get over it.
There’s no question that the high school principal violated Sullivan’s First Amendment rights. Although public school students’ right to free speech is not unlimited, schools are generally only allowed to discipline students for speech that is disruptive to the school’s learning environment. It is difficult to imagine how a single tweet criticizing a controversial politician during a field trip could have disrupted this high school’s ability to educate its students.
So no, in fact, each actor in this story is not free to do what s/he did.
Steve Gelder
1 year, 6 months agoKevin:
You keep saying liberals have reading comprehension problems, when it’s really just you splitting hairs over which person spoke to which group.
When a “spokesperson” speaks for an official, it is as if the person made the call themselves. That’s what a spokesperson is.
So, even though the Governor didn’t make thee call, when the Governor’s spokeswoman contacts a group, and their spokesperson complains to the principal, who then demands an apology, I’m certain even you can follow a simple chain of command to see why so many are saying the Governor spoke to the principal and asked for the apology.
As an adult, I would be embarrassed to have it revealed that I can’t take criticism from a teenage student and had to follow this approach to try to squelch her opinion and right to free speech. If the Governor is so overly-sensitive that he can’t let a young girl Tweet negatively about him without taking the time to set her straight, I can’t imagine how he finds time to run the state.
Brian Mehnert
1 year, 6 months agoThe girl is a minor. She was under the supervision and responsibility of the school - which is paid for and managed by the government. Words she tweeted were “heard” by the governors protective service as they monitor a lot of internet traffic for anything that might be threatening. Since the governor’s location is the de facto supervisor of the minor child while on the premises, his office was 100% correct to notify the school. The school did not have to respond, nor even tell the girl that the governor’s office had seen her tweet; but they did. What she did was wrong and it was proper for the school to be notified.
Peggy Keller
1 year, 6 months agoBrian Mehnert. This is an 18 year old woman. She is a registered voter. If she were male she would be registered for the draft. She was attending with her school, but that does not mean that the school is responsible for her. If she committed a crime, would the school be held responsible? No. Most of these senior trips are not paid for by tax dollars but by fund raising done by the group. Her tweet was in no way threatening. If she were at a private function and tweeted what he said and someone wanted to tattle on her, it would be one thing. But, this is the Govt tattling on her and she was threatened that a note would be sent out with her transcripts if she did not apologize. This is a violation of her freedom of speech which clearly state that the govt- and that means the Office of the Governor and the Public School have no right to attempt to stifle her speech. Period.
Phyllis Ollari
1 year, 6 months agoIf this Governor is so thin-skinned as to be offended by a teenager’s tweet, why is he in politics? I would presume it would be illegal for the Governor’s staff or the Principal to even threatened the student with that sort of thing. It’s the government retaliating and that is why we have the first amendment. It reminds me when I told a HS teacher what she was teaching was boring.It was not my type of literature. The school called my mom and they were trying to make me apologize. I did not apologize for what I said but the fact that she didn’t like what I had to say. I flunked lit that year.
Craig Koppa
1 year, 6 months agoI love the fact that folks are defending her right to tell a lie. She did not tell off the Governor, she admitted she lied. Second of all the Governor’s office did not,according to the article, ask for a letter of apology, that was asked for by the principal. Why is it ok for a teen to lie, but if Fox news lies folks are screaming for heads?
Mari Gribble
1 year, 6 months agoBarb, I am with you up to a point. Yes Emma had the right to express her opinion. Yes the Governor had a right to express his opinion in response, as did the principal. But the failing is in the actions that followed. When the principal called Ms. Sullivan in his office and try to coerce her into writing letters of apology, going so far as to give her talking points on what the apology should say and suggesting that she remove her tweet and when implying that this incident could become a part of her transcript records it really seems like the school administration does not share your opinion that Emma has the right to actually exercise her free speech. I am honestly a little concerned that a professional journalist, whose living depends on being able to express her own opinion, doesn’t see the problems inherent in this situation.
As an aside, I do wish she would have expressed her opinions in a more respectful manner. I have lectured my own children for years on how word choice can impact the ability to get your message across. When you use disrespectful, coarse language people tend to focus on that rather than hearing your message. But we have to remember that we have the right to free speech and there are no qualifiers saying well only free respectfull speech.
Wanda Round
1 year, 6 months ago“…Brownback’s office has the right to be offended that a student would act disrespectfully in a forum designed to promote students’ understanding of government.”
And Hitler was offended by Judaism. Sounds to me like this student understands the current regime just fine.
Lisa Smith Coleman
1 year, 6 months agoNot only do I think Brownback is a fool…more than I ever thought before, but I also think he’s twisted and perverse. This is disgusting, immature, paranoid, delusional, bullying behavior.
He sure isn’t showing respect toward women, the poor, the unemployed, the educational system, or the environment. He deserves every bit of bad press he gets on this. Shame on him for bullying a high school girl, calling the principal with an implied threat/groveling for the funding. Shame on the principal for not growing a pair and standing up for his student.
And Barb, you’ve lost a reader in me. Blech.
David Graham
1 year, 6 months agoPreston Minor: “There’s no question that the high school principal violated Sullivan’s First Amendment rights.”
Really? LOL. Don’t know what world you’re living in, pal, but the school did not prevent “Sullivan” from speaking her mind, nor did it punish her for doing so. A request for an apology is not a violation of the first amendment.
Each actor in this story is free to do what s/he did.
Jim Ryan
1 year, 6 months agoEveryone including you Barb is totally missing the point.
Sullivan is a kid. Forcing her to write an apology she doesn’t really mean is pointless. Imagine if Brownback’s office had reached out to her and said “What exactly about the Governor’s speech do you think ‘sucked’? How can we better address your needs as a constituent? Do you have any ideas to help the Governor make Kansas a better place?”
The problem with Kansas and America today is that we see everything as political first and we’ve forgotten about the normal way to interact with each other. When a kid acts up you can yell at her and force her to apologize, or you can put her on the spot, treat her like an adult and make her explain herself.
This should never have become political. The Governor’s office really dropped the ball here and could have taken the high road.
Trevor K. Ten Brink
1 year, 6 months agoOh! Give me a break! The governor’s office and the school are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Brownback doesn’t deserve respect, period.
Ray Cyst
1 year, 6 months agoBrownback had nothing to gain by doing this. He just looks like a fool. Or maybe his staff. An intelligent man would have let this go. I think this speaks volumes on his ability to lead and his lack of common sense. Do you want this idiot at the head of Kansas?? Or do you want a liberal idiot. Oh-Oh.
Christopher Monley
1 year, 6 months agoIf Emma was my daughter, I may have talked to her about her “choice” of language but I would not stifle her right to express it. I do know that I would make an appointment to talk to the Governor’s office if they were not too spineless to even meet with me. And I GUARANTEE I would be meeting with the principal’s office if they did indeed “ream” out my daughter. The use of intimidation is not the way our disagreements should be handled in this country. Unfortunately, too often it happens.
Patrick Thurmond
1 year, 6 months agoBarb Shelly, you have missed the point of the uproar entirely. No one has a problem with the governor and his office being offended. He can even gripe back. But for his office to put coercive pressure on the student like this looks more like retribution than a response.
In a time when the government of the United States is becoming more and more subversive and has been trying to censor others people should be mad at ANY inroad a government official makes in that capacity.
This was about censorship as much as childishness on the governors part. Was the girl being rude? Of course. But its her right to be rude and to not be intimidated by the government for exercising her rights.
He (Brownback) did much more than exercise his right to freedom of speech. He exercised his power in an attempt to come out on top and be in the right (in image only, because the public isn’t behind him).
His actions got the cowards at her school scrambling to save political face and brownnose Brownback. The administrative staff at her school should be ashamed of themselves. Just because she is in school doesn’t mean she has any less rights than anyone else. Especially now that she is of voting age. He has even pushed for an apology from her.
This is an abomination of an abuse of his office and power. If this is how he responds to a teenager just think of what he will do to adults that turn against him. I for one will encourage everyone to vote him out of office in the next election.
Jeffery Haas
1 year, 6 months agoA school administration demanding an apology is not freedom of expression. What does one suppose would have happened to the student if she had refused to apologize?
If disciplinary action, then you’ve left the arena of free expression behind and you are now punishing it by proxy, using the heavy hand of the high school administration.
There is no line which can be crossed unless a threat is made against the security and safety of the person being written about, or unless slander or libel has taken place which can cause tangible damage, and expression of one’s personal opinion does not meet those criteria.
In fact, if disciplinary action were to take place against the student, the Governor’s office would be liable for depriving the student’s civil rights. It would be actionable under the law, something you don’t know much about.
And, as someone else has already pointed out, this student will be of voting age very soon, perhaps in time for the reelection of the Governor. He has just made an enemy who will make his misery and loss of office her main mission in life.
Congratulations Governor, I bet you feel real powerful beating up on a high school pupil.
And congratulations Shelly, for being fractally wrong.
Steve Gelder
1 year, 6 months agoKevin Groenhagen -
“Obviously, I am not making a distinction between the governor and the governor’s staff (which includes his spokesperson). I was making a distinction between the governor’s staff and the girl’s principal.”
Obviously, you are splitting hairs in order to insult the reading comprehension of liberals. I mentioned how spokespeople and chain of command works. Stop acting like someone of superior intellect when you parse words, and instead acknowledge that when the Governor’s office calls someone, there will be actions taken.
Frankly, the Governor’s office has bigger and better things to concern themselves with than the Tweets of an 18-year old, and should, rightfully, be embarrassed that any action was taken. You should be more upset that time and energy was wasted in such an action, rather than defending who directly said what to whom.
Steve Gelder
1 year, 6 months agoCraig Koppa -
“Why is it ok for a teen to lie, but if Fox news lies folks are screaming for heads?”
Because a teen isn’t passing herself off as a legitimate source of news for the American viewing public? because you can expect teenage girls to lie, but you want your newspeople to be accurate and honest? How many answers will you require to put this question to rest?
Kevin Kelly
1 year, 6 months agoBarb, firs of all, do you know what the word “ream” means? Please be more judicious in your use of language.
In fact, I am going to contact your publisher about your use of such an offensive word, and demand a letter of apology at the threat of destroying your future.
Christine Taylor-Butler
1 year, 6 months agoPart of learning about government is learning that people have the right to freedom of speech even if it is hurtful - according to the Supreme Court. Brownback and his chronies have had nothing but mean things to say about the current President.
Me thinks he protests too much. But that is easily remedied come next election. Voters can vote that thin-skinned idiot out of office.
Ronald W Nelson
1 year, 6 months ago” But here’s the deal”: While Jones-Sontag certainly had the “right” to complain to the organizers of Youth in Government, as the Communications Manager of the Governor’s office, she should know that one tweet from one student with 60 followers is a nothing. The first rule of political communications is “don’t make a big deal out of a little thing unless it will help your cause.” She ignored that first rule. And by doing so, she made herself and her boss look petty, ignorant of politically wise communications, and clueless about the power of social media.
Jerry Segraves
1 year, 6 months agoDamn woman, you’re fugly! And a Sham Brownslacks supporter obviously!
Kevin Kelly
1 year, 5 months agoGroenhagen, do you realize how badly you lost the “liberals with reading comprehension” argument? Repeating it over and over again doesn’t make you look, well, very intelligent. In fact, it makes you look like a Brownback employee.
See if you can follow:
Girl writes nasty remark about governor.
Governor’s office complains.
Girl winds up in principal’s office, and is ordered to apologize.
I hope you never call yourself a freedom-loving conservative if you continue to defend that.
Kevin Kelly
1 year, 5 months agoRoger W. Nelson, exactly.
Not only are they picking on a teenaged girl, but his staff has managed to turn their boss into a national laughingstock in one fell swoop.
Ronald W Nelson
1 year, 5 months agoI’m confused Kevin. How do deficits in some states have anything to do with the discussion? And how does the assertion that some traditionally Democratic states are ‘bankrupt’ have a bearing on whether picking on a teenaged girl makes the current Kansas administration a laughing stock? (And no, they aren’t ‘bankrupt’; but of the 10 states closest to bankruptcy, 5 are headed by Democrats and 5 by Republicans).
Bimboino Pan
1 year, 5 months agoSo your governor trying to intimidate a teenager for exercising her civil rights is behavior you support, eh Barb?
You should take a remedial civics class, maybe read the Constitution.
Alison Carter
1 year, 5 months agoSo, who called the press first on this incident? Someone fanned this little spark into a bonfire of mean spirited-ness. Who and where is the role model who will clarify the lesson in all of this?
Rick Segreda
1 year, 5 months agoI guess it is not only poor wittle Governor Brownback that “sucks,” but also Barb Shelly with her Orwellian argument that the governor pressuring a student to apologize for a fairly mild insult constitutes “freedom of expression”.
When she garduates Sullivan should make like Dorothy and get out of Kansas.
Tom Ryan
Crossroads, Kansas City
1 year, 5 months agoMs. Emma Sullivan now has a larger readership than this blog…
Melissa McCauley Borsick
1 year, 5 months agoI think so far in this country we are allowed freedom of speech, she did not do this on a school web site she is of legal age, Bownback get over it. She should not have to apologise if she does we are not living in a free country.
James Guglielmino
1 year, 5 months agoHow to respond to your indefensible opinion that the punishment of this student is righteous, especially when the first two comments agreed with you….??? In the first comment it was opined that it’s ok to privately voice disdain for the governor but that if the student puts it out to the world, she should be punished??? Please demonstrate where the First Amendment says that our right to free speech ONLY extends to private conversations and NOT where the world can hear or see what we are saying? How could anyone be so obtuse? Let’s look at this a little differently for half a moment…..The state of Kansas does not have the funds to support the arts but it DOES have funds to pay staff to be certain that no one says something unpleasant about the governor? Brownback is demonstrating what he would look like as a President and it IS scary. As for you, Barbara, you had to much pie and not enough coffee before you wrote your blog. You are not just wrong, you’re DEAD wrong, obscenely WRONG.. Oh, and to the extent that our governor has his minions monitoring the media, “you are acting like a jerk, Sam,” and by the way, you BLOW (like a whale)….Come after me and let’s see who gets punished.
Michael Hardy
1 year, 5 months agoIt’s one thing for the principal to tell the pupil what he thinks about what she did and what she should have done. It’s another for him, in his role as, in effect, a functionary of the state, to coerce her to recant a political comment. In one situation, it’s between principal and pupil; in the other, it’s between the state and a citizen who expressed dislike for a politician. What should be the relationship between the state and a citizen who expresses dislike for a politician?
Randy Callstrom
1 year, 5 months agoAs the parent of 2 SME graduates, I know the school would not condone this behavior because it occured while on a school field trip. If she had tweeted later that night, who would have cared? But, Governor Brownback’s administration is ridiculous as well. Was Emma’s tweet disrespectful? Yes! Does she have the first amendment right to be disrespectful? Yes! But somebody explain why this was worthy of a front page article in the KC Star?
Kathy Cook
1 year, 5 months agoOne would hope that taking a stand means more than tattling on a high school student. Had the Governor called out Rush Limbaugh for using a racist term like “uppity” in regard to the First Lady, that might have been a stand. If this is the Governor’s stand, its no wonder we are closing schools, throwing seniors and disabled to the wolves. It’s chilling that our students must now be afraid of their government and their school to voice their political opinions, even to one another.
Celiene O'Hara
1 year, 5 months agoSIXTY (60) people would have seen her Tweet if it wasn’t for the whiny baby Brownback’s response. He gets all the backlash he deserves. She made ONE mistake - using the comma. She meant to say “He sucked in person”. The comma makes it look like she TOLD him to his face he sucked. But, she was NOT wrong. He sucks. Kansas is a fetid backwater because of him.
Kurt Lippisch
1 year, 5 months agoHow wrong can you go? Brownback is an elected official, this young woman is a citizen of voting age, a constituent. So Brownback tries to lean on her through the authority figures that currently have influence on the rest of her life. Brownback should be censured by the KS legislature if that is possible, or at least forced to apologize himself for trying to strong arm a citizen speaking her mind into undermining her words. Brownback is so fragile he can’t handle the off-the-cuff criticism from one voter?! His PR machine has to go into damage control mode just because someone doesn’t like him? How about congratulating her on exercising her 1st Amendment right? Or maybe proving he isn’t a complete throw-back and take this as a teaching opportunity about public discourse and do it in public. Invite Ms. Sullivan to the Governor’s mansion for lunch and a civil discussion about civics. He might even change her mind, just sayin’. Have a nice little, scripted press-conference where they can at least agree to disagree and develop a respect for each others’ positions. BUT NO, Brownback calls the Principal to dress-down Ms. Sullivan. PUTZ.
Jing Liang
1 year, 5 months agoKansas is facing a $492M budget deficit in 2012.
http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1293242844/Kansas-budget-deficit-for-2012-shrinks
Should Kansas taxpayers be paying for a government employee to stifle free speech? Say what ever you want about Governor’s right to free speech. What Jones-Sontag did was purely meant to intimidate.
I think Sherriene Jones-Sontag would be a quick-win spending cut.
Matt Graham
1 year, 5 months agoI find this hilarious.
I’m a college student at Pittsburg State University, and graduated from the same highschool that he graduated from, Prairie View in La Cygne, Kansas.
Everyone has some valid points I find on both sides.
Did Brownback’s people have the right to inform the principle, well yes they did because its their job. If the school did nothing to the girl do I think the school system would be threatened in some other way? Yes I do.
I think its silly for any person in a place of some sort of political power to take offense of something said about them especially on twitter.
If the national enquirer can write that Obama is from mars and that Oprah creates black holes or something along that sort of topic why not make note to them that they don’t like it? Because it wont make a bit of difference in the land of freedom of speech. Brownback and/or his people should have just accepted the insult as immature instead of making a reaction to it. That what the girl wanted a reaction, and she got it, maybe not from the audience that she expected, but a reaction none the less.
He made her a metaphorical martyr for “hippie liberals” to ramble on about free speech and their right yada yada yada because he responded to an 18 year old girls insult on twitter. I compare that to me getting mad at a 5 year old for calling me fat. Do I like what he said, no, will I do anything about it probably not, because in the grand scheme of things is it really gonna matter if someone immature insulted me? The answer is No.
Also this has blown up way out of proportion, is stupid, and is not something the government should be focusing on. I would like for a proper agenda on improving schools to be written up, then maybe kids would learn the proper tack to be able to insult a politician correctly. You know with slandering campaign and commercials, that kind of stuff, after all it is the american way. God Bless America
Matt Graham
1 year, 5 months agoalso excuse me for my grammatical errors in above statement because I know someone will try to use that as proof of inferior intelligence. However it is 4:30 in the morning and I realize that I have made some errors. So sue me.
Matthew Grimm
1 year, 5 months agoOverlooking KS conservatives’ no-doubt justified fear of the political power of an 18-year-old girl’s Tweet to her friends and whether “suck” is swoon-makingly disrespectful, potty-mouthed term that makes “proper” people gasp and faint (next up to be debated in Kansas: will rock & roll will lead to miscegenation of the races?) — a conspicuous NONE of them address the now-apparent fact that the “small government” of the Brownback administration and the Americans for Prosperity corporate cabal (Ms. Jones-Sontag) that runs it seem to practice their “small government” by using taxpayer money to pay social-network monitors to troll the vastness of the interweb for thought-crimes.
God forbid someone should call your C-Street-embedded, war-crime-enabling Randroid governor a “doody-head” amidst his and the Kochs’ war on culture, civil society and working people.
James O'Flaherty
1 year, 5 months agoHasn’t anyone even wondered how much it’s costing the taxpayers for Brownback to pay someone to stalk the internet?
David Tobler
1 year, 5 months agoSorry Barb, considering you’re somewhat of a public figure yourself… on a “public” forum. Let me just spell what I think. I think you’re an idiot as well.
There. Done.
Carl Seth
1 year, 5 months ago@Kevin Groenhagen
There’s a fine line between being courteous and pointing out mistakes in grammar and correcting details about the story.
After reading so many of your posts, drenched in arrogance and self righteousness, I lost all interests in their contents. It’s just the way you say them that makes me hate your posts. To say nothing of your sophomoric attempts at delegitimizing the opinions of an 18 year old high school student and tear apart anyone who supports her just because the comments were caustic towards a Republican. Why are you working so hard to save face for the Governor and his staff? And what is your problem with liberals? You won’t get any support outside of the far right with ignorant preconceptions like that.
Milo Bendech
1 year, 5 months agoWhen politicians serve in office, one thing they are going to have to get use to…criticism. We live in a free society…not in North Korea. Our opinions about politicians are an open book. The internet is full of derogatory comments about our President…and no one seems to mind name calling him. So when a governor gets bent out of shape because someone expresses disapproval, the last thing he wants to do is see if he can get his critics in trouble, fired or disciplined.
My question is: Are the taxpayers being billed for the time the Governor’s aides are combing the internet for derogatory comments about him? If so, the taxpayers are owed an apology and a refund
Steve Gelder
1 year, 5 months agoTurns out Brownback’s office was not right to complain about student’s Tweet - at least, not according to Brownback:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-kansas-tweeter-20111129,0,1245329.story
@Kevin Groenhagen - you’re welcome.
Steve Gelder
1 year, 5 months agoOh, and check out the website UrbanDictionary, if you want to see the definition of “uppity” that most people are aware of, when in reference to racial slurs.