Tweeting Kansas Teen Gets Apology from Gov. Brownback, Her Following Soars

Good for her! Republicans need to learn that speech is free for everyone, not just the Right Wing.

“That wasn’t respectful,” Brownback’s communications director Sherriene Jones-Sontag said.” – - – Well, if I could say something to Sherriene directly I would say, SO WHAT? Emma did not have a responsibility to be respectful in her own private thoughts and comments to her friends. If she thinks the governor sucks then she has a right to think it. If she wants to tell her friends & followers the governor sucks then she has a right to tell them. If she had met the governor in person THEN she would have had a responsibility to be respectful. If she was an employee of or volunteer for the governor THEN she would have had a responsibility to be respectful. But in the venue in which whe was communicating she had no such responsibility. Sherriene had no business trying to be a control monger with this particular message – the private thoughts and semi-private expression of regular person who was not an employee of the governor or the government.

“That wasn’t respectful,” Brownback’s communications director Sherriene Jones-Sontag said. “It was important for the organization to be aware of the comments their students were making.” – - – No, it wasn’t. Unless Emma was speaking FOR the organization what she had to say was none of their business. Unless Emma was speaking in some official capacity as a member of the organization what she had to say was none of their business.

A grown man that has been given the trust of the people of Kansas is getting all bent out of shape over a Twitter from a teenager. LOL.Let the little boy rant.

The governor’s office needs to get a life. I just can’t believe they’d troll and complain over tweets. Republican governor or democrat governor. Doesn’t matter.

Krawitz “laid into me about how this was unacceptable and an embarrassment,” Sullivan told The Wichita Eagle. “He said I had created this huge controversy and everyone was up in arms about it … and now he had to do damage control.” – - – Clearly the prinipal is just as clueless as Sherriene. What the governor’s office did was unacceptable and an embarassment. What the principal did was unacceptable and an embarassment. The ONLY reason this issue and Emma’s tweet is now widely known publicly is because SHERRIENE and the GOVERNOR’S OFFICE made an issue of it. Regardless of whether or not the principal agreed with what Emma said it was his duty as a leader to support and protect her and her right to think what she wants and communicate what she thinks. The principal failed at the second duty of a leader. Obviously, the principal is a simple minded administrator who happens to be in a leadership position instead of an authentic leader.

PAM: – - – “The principal is wrong, too. He’s probably a Democrat. Nearly everyone is who works in our failing public schools.” – - – I wonder if PAM learned about engaging in pathetic and ignorant stereotyping in school or in her family? And the point of engaging in such pathetic and ignorant stereotyping is what exactly?

I was her age during the Reagan presidency – having gone through the California school system that Reagan decimated while he was governor.

I can only imagine if MY generation had had Twitter and Facebook back then. I’m pretty sure we would have been a lot more foul-mouthed and disrespectful of this young Kansan. BTW, good for her for caring about arts funding!

There is a reason this incident has stirred so much controversy. Gov Brownback is a far right evangelical Christian. These people are attempting to assert as much control as they can over as many people as they can. They wish for a structured world with themselves at the top of the structure. We must all begin to realize how dangerous these people are.

More evidence that today’s youth not only has no class, they also seem to lack the critical thinking skills needed to make a mature comments about society or the government. It’s one thing to be critical of the governor – I admire youngsters who can articulate their criticism of the government without resorting to slang or name-calling – it’s another to simply spout off disrespectful comments. This teens parents are standing behind her so it would appear that they don’t expect a higher level of communication from their daughter. Kudos to the school and the governor for expecting more from our nations youth – especially those youngsters who are fortunate enough to attend a Youth in Government conference.

I recall some of REAGAN’S speeches that kept us riveted. My opinion is had Gov Brownback’s speech been interesting and dynamic instead of condescending and simply same boring stuff she’s heard before Emma would have listened and not become bored.

I bet the Governor will not get her vote if he goes for re-election. He
has to grow up first. We have to watch what we say with this character,
or he’ll send out his gestapo cronies after us.

Criticism of a politician! What a novel idea! maybe if there was more of this, the high & mighty would listen.

Pathetic. A complete lack of respect for establishment and long standing principles upon which this great nation was founded. I speak, of course, about that “free speech” thing and how people can say whatever the eff they want, especially about public officials. Maybe the Governor needs some time in civics class. I have no doubt that Ms. Sullivan can fill in for him at the Statehouse. You go Emma

She has a right to her opinion and a right to express it in whatever language she feels appropriate. That the Governor’s office actually PAYS someone to look for his name mentioned on Social Media to me is a misuse of public dollars.

This is a perfect example of failed parenting. Her parents reared a disrespectful little brat.

Pity she isn’t more intelligent and has such a limited vocabulary. If she really seeks change, she needs to clean up her act. Otherwise, she’ll never be taken seriously and “freedom of speech” becomes laughable.

JoesyJ

your stupidity is showing. Read (if your able) the facts. Only then should you open your yap.
Pay very struck attention to where this goes over the coming days. The Gov’s team will wish they had kept their collective mouths shut.

The school had no right to ask this girl apologize. Schools need to learn their boundaries and stay within them! As for the governor’s staff, they must be a bunch of morons to stir up such a fuss over something a teenager tweeted. The governor needs to be looking for some new staff.

The high school should be ashamed to have an inarticulate, foul-mouthed ignoramus reach the age of 18 under their auspices who is still incapable of anything more than tweeting an epithet. People here praise her for having a spine. They certainly can’t praise her for having a brain.

Gall dang it – Please except MY stupid, JoseJ

Charles is the poster my comments were intended for.

Monday’s – jeez

How embarrassing to be this young ladies parents. This should be an issue resolved at home. If the principal asked her to write an apology, as the parent you enforce that. She does not have to like the governor, but she should be respectful. You can say a speak is boring and not enjoy a person and still be respectful. If my daughter wrote anything like that about anyone, I would personally make sure she wrote her apologies. What a shame that we mistake freedom of speech for meaning disrespect.

Sherriene Jones-Sontag …Note to self, don’t tick of 18 yr. olds. They can vote. Now, how do you suppose those 6000+ new followers of hers feel about the governor? Do she call employers of adults that don’t show what she considers the proper respect for the governor. As for the principal, the only damage control you need to be doing is for the damage you caused yourself by reprimanding a student for voicing an opinion on Twitter. He better hope she doesn’t run for school board, win, and becomes his boss. It constantly amazes me how stupid some educated adults can be. Governor Brownback, I think you need to review your staffing needs.

She’s hot! Yumm!

Oops! Looks like another politician tried to take away our freedom of speech. Seems he found out we aren’t giving in that easily! I salute this teenager!

Freedom of speech is just that, the people who think this person should apologize are out of line, they also have freedom of speech. If she wants to be disrespectful, that also is her right as an American, freedom of speech is just that freedom of speech. If you work for someone usually your not going to be disrespectful unless your looking for another job. If anyone should stiffle this persons right, they should be sent to China, most of our politicians are buffoons this person just had the nerve to say it on her private Twitter, which by the way as everyone can see is not Private. Hopefully she would have the guts to say it to him in person.

How many of you right-wingers thought it was ok for the hicks at NASCAR to boo the First Lady and are now on here whining?
———————————————-
How many of you left wongers thought it was okay to boo Palin and call Bush names in public?

_I thought so

…and republicans want smaller government. They should start by not hiring people to monitor Facebook and Twitter.

“Pam”….you suck!!! The Governor and his staff Suck. and the Princincipal Sucks
as for you Pam…you suck because your stupid…You can walk 3 step in my school with out tripping over a stupid Republican especially in the Locker Room…lots of BRAINS in There. SUCK IT!

At those who are saying that the school had no right to make her apologize….She was on a class field trip at the capitol. She disrespectfully tweeted lies on her account. It was done during a school event, therefore, the school got involved and asked her to make an apology, but the brat and her awful parents declared freedom of speech. This is horrible parenting! There is freedom of speech and then there is another thing called libel, making statements to spread lies. What this girl did could be considered libel but her parents are okay with that. However, for those of you who think the school had no right to step in, if she had been slandering someone else, perhaps a teacher or friend who didn’t go to the school, everyone would be up in arms about it! That’s what we call cyberbullying…and people get upset about it when schools don’t take action against it!

Just think….Brownback was a presidential contender a few years ago. With that think skin he has he might have been a bigger disastor than the guy called Obama. Brownback, join the Democrats. They have a place for you…maybe VP for HIllary! By the way, I’m a Republican supporter.

Well at least we know she has no future in politics because this will haunt her to the end. It is a shame that no children have no understanding of what they say and due will stick to them and shame on her parents for not teaching her as well!! But at least we know where she gets this from.

@Billijoe — umm…you get out much?

Everyone commenting here about Emma lying need to learn how to friggin read because they all have a serious reading comprehension problem. Well, either that or they are too LAZY to read the ENTIRE STORY. Emma DID NOT LIE. She was having a what if conversation with a friend, as in what would say to him IF she had the chance to say something to his face. What part of “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.” did some people not understand? I think everyone FALSLY accusing EMMA of lying need to apologize to Emma for lying about her.

JROBINSON: “All she did is open a twitter account and pretend she said something snarky to Brownback; because she was too much of a coward to actually say it to his face.” – - – No, she did not. So, speaking of people with a reading comprehension problem… What part of a what if conversation with a friend, as in what she would say to him IF she had the chance to say something to his face, did you not understand? And exactly how do you know whether or not she even had an opportunity to say anything to his face? Were you there? If you don’t know for a fact that she even had a chance to say something to his face then your statement has absolutely no basis in known facts. How dare you accuse her of being a coward for not doing something she probably did not even have a chance to do.

@B-K KNIGHTRIDER: she wasn’t having a “what if conversation with a friend”… she was tweeting about a what if conversation. Look the kid’s an idiot. At the very most, she’s a snarky petulant, little leftist brat… at the least, she shouldn’t be having private conversations about hypothetical ideas over Twitter. You know, I just turned to my friend and said, “hey this knightrider idiot doesn’t know anything”… but instead of just turning to him and saying this, I think I’ll just post it on a billboard so millions of others can hear what I said privately, too. Does that make it ok? Better?

She’s a snarky petulant leftist tool, that’s it. Nothing else.

PAISLEYCHIC: “I’m sorry….who cares? This is the stupidest non-story I’ve seen in a while.” – - – The only thing here that is clearly stupid is your lack of understanding of the real issue. While acting in their official capacity as a representative of the government (i.e. the Governor’s director of Communication and the principal of a public school) two official representatives of the government tried to inflict some kind of accountability upon Emma for exercising her right to free speech. That kind of government harassment/threat can intimidate others and thus stifle the free speech of a person/citizen (i.e. Emma) or other persons in the future. That is/was a blatant abuse of government power. THAT is an authentic story of cencern to everyone capable of independent rational thought who respects the 1st Amendment, even when they don’t agree with what someone else has to say.

Ouch! Talk about some mean speech. Democrats here aren’t very nice with their commentary. Actually where I live, the public schools do a good job and my public university educated sons have done well. There’s just so many negative articles about public school in general and, I admit, I just spent Thanksgiving with my public school administrator sister who is a Democrat (and much loved and admired by me). Add in the teachers unions bent toward Democrats and one could make a connection between Democrats and public schools and all those negative public school reports. Mea Culpa to those who endeavor to teach. It’s a hard job.

She has the right to say whatever she wants. However, the school district has the right to never give her a highly sought position such as the one she had ben trusted with after this. I have the right to say whatever I want on facebook, but if my boss sees it and it is innapropraite, he has the right and ability to fire me. I can say it, but I have to live with the consequences. Emma, are you ready to deal with the consequences? People may not hire you because you have no respect for authority. People may not want you babysitting their kids cause you can’t control what you say. Are you ready for teh ramifcations of “speaking your mind no matter what?”

Gov Brownback’s staff clearly over reacted and he apologized for that. Not a big story there. What is interesting is that the school felt it was their place to order this girl to apologize for something she did on her own private twitter account. How does the school have any authority o enforce any code of conduct in any child’s private life. It’s another example of schools thinking they can assume the role of parent in a child’s life. Schools need to teach. That’s it. Butt out of people’s personal lives.

I wonder if sheblowsalot?

I hope Emma has the good sense to change her settings on Facebook to PRIVACY. And as for that governor’s staff trolling the Web – each one should be fired. Freedom of speech is still alive and well in this country and there’s far too much of Big Brother watching us. BTW – the principal needs a course on anti-bullying! Proud of Emma’s parents for standing by their daughter and upholding her convictions!! Way to go, young lady!!

She needs to mature… bring civil is a thermometer of our condition as a nation. When the populace spurs immaturity on in the name if a right, then we must question ourselves if the right is properly exercised. BTW: stubbornness is not a virtue, it’s very different from perseverance.

I’d just love to see how passionate you defenders of her would be if she’d said that about Obama. You’re mostly all two faced, and you know it. The comments she made was stupid and immature at best. It’s true though that the governor’s office should have dismissed it.

TOM: ” “Because SHE LIED. If she had said the Governor sucked, that would have been OK with me! But she said that she informed the Governor he sucked. This can lead to credibility issues: “why did the Governor allows this?” She should apologize for MISREPRESENTING herself. She LIED.” – - – Good grief, another person who either has a significan reading comprehension problem or is just to lazy to read the entire story. NO SHE DID NOT LIE. What part of “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.” What is so friggin hard to understand about that? So, once again, she was having a conversation via twitter with a friend about what she would say to him IF, I say again, IF “they were to meet him.” In other words, they were having a what if conversation, not a what they did conversation. It is shameful how so many people are so quick to pass judgment on others when they don’t fully undderstand the situtation, especially when they have sufficient facts available to understand their judgment is patently false.

What I find truly amazing is the fact that about a year ago there was an adult woman from Orange County Calif that photo shopped a picture of the presidents face on a chimpanzee. I venture to guess that those of you that are calling this teenager a petulant brat for voicing her opinion were perfectly fine with something that was blatantly offensive, rude, obnoxious and vicious as that picture was. How’s this for an opinion. I think that Rush Limbaugh is an ill informed, over inflated pompous windbag with a drug addiction and that’s my opinion, I am entitled to it and I choose to say so and I won’t take it back. The same goes for Glen Beck and Rupert Murdoch. (Note: I used their proper names)

DOC: “BTW: stubbornness is not a virtue, it’s very different from perseverance.” – - – Neither is the sexism that probably led to the story’s author labeling Emma as stubborn rather than as courageous perseverance – which is the characterization I think she would have gotten if she was a he instead of a she. Emma was correct to not apologize and her parents were correct in supporting her in the face of government abuse of power. To me that is courageous perseverance.

@B-K KNIGHTRIDER: How is “tweeting about a what if conversation” not fundamentally the same as having a what if conversation with a friend?

Because when I say to you, “Brownback sucks”, I’m saying it to YOU. When I tweet it, I am publishing it to billions of people.

How’s that?

You either 1) don’t understand what twitter is, or 2) are one of those tweens who can’t recognize the difference between the web and reality, private and public and it’s all the same to them.

No one’s saying she doesn’t have a right to say he sucks. And Brownback has a right to say she sucks. That’s how it works. But don’t elevate this issue to more than what it is…

she’s a petulant brat who thought’d make her look “like a rebel” if she told her friend what she “would’ve said” to Brownback. (wow, isn’t she soooo cool! yaaay she said the gov sucks!) Only… she did it over twitter. Now, rather than apologize for being a jerk after her private conversation was made public, she’s doubling down and going for the free speech defense to distract from her earlier stupidity. She should try the Chewbacca Defense, she’d probably have better luck.

Its funny how you Lefties always come down to defend free speech when its something stupid that was said. The Left and the DNC: protecting stupidity for everyone.

KYLE: “I’d just love to see how passionate you defenders of her would be if she’d said that about Obama. You’re mostly all two faced, and you know it.” – - – My reaction would have been EXACTLY the same. That is the advantage of being able to engage in independent rational thought while fairly and consistently applying rational objective standards and living according to certain rational moral principles and virtues. I consistently call things like I see them – period. That is also an advantage that comes from a sincere respect for the Constitution. Every time during my 27 year military career when I took my oath of enlistment to in part “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic” I really meant it. Consequently, I have actually gone to the trouble of studying it, reading it, and trying to understand it according rational contextual standards.

DAVID: “This girl appears to be a knuckle head. She lied about even saying what she said she said to the govenors face and then got bent out of shape for being outted as a ” fibber”.” – - – Good grief, another person who either has a significan reading comprehension problem or is just to lazy to read the entire story. NO SHE DID NOT FIB. What part of “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.” What is so friggin hard to understand about that? So, once again, she was having a conversation via twitter with a friend about what she would say to him IF, I say again, IF “they were to meet him.” In other words, they were having a what if conversation, not a what they did conversation. Ergo she DID NOT FIB. Learn to read.

Wow, I wonder how much the pay is for trolling social media sites, looking for negative comments aimed at gov’t officials? I can understand searching for his name related to physical threats of violence, but negative comments? What a waste imo.

JROBINSON: “@B-K KNIGHTRIDER: How is “tweeting about a what if conversation” not fundamentally the same as having a what if conversation with a friend? Because when I say to you, “Brownback sucks”, I’m saying it to YOU. When I tweet it, I am publishing it to billions of people. How’s that?” – - – That is irrelevant. Plus, that only tells me you totally missed the point. The poor structure of your comment to which I was responding made it look as though you were quibbling over whether or not they were having a conversation, but not about whether or not they were having a conversation via twitter. My response made it perfectly clear that was how I interpreted your comment, especially when I focused upon the part where you appeared to deny that she was having a conversation. That distinction was the only issue of concern to me. I could not care less that they had the conversation via twitter. Except for a person’s followers NOBODY knows what anyone else says on Twitter unless they proactively seek it out. The analogy I make is that I am having a conversation with a friend at dinner in a crowded restaurant and we are not speaking loudly enough for anyone else to hear us UNLESS they make an effort to eavesdrop on our conversation. The only difference is Twitter is a much larger venue than even the largest restaurant. I say shame on them for eavesdropping on my conversation – and ditto for anyone who seeks out what others say on twitter and don’t like what they find; especially when they are a government official.

Knightrider. Read her quote

JROBINDSON: “You either 1) don’t understand what twitter is, or 2) are one of those tweens who can’t recognize the difference between the web and reality, private and public and it’s all the same to them.” – - – Of course I understand what Twitter is. I DON’T CARE. What twitter is is totally irrelevant to me and this situation. And no, I am not a tween “who can’t recognize the difference between the web and reality, private and public and it’s all the same to them.” I understand the difference fully well; plus I have not been a tween for a very long time. You don’t seem to have the intellectual capacity to understanding the distinction between a truly public comment – as in if she had stood up right there IN the venue of the Governor’s speech DURING the actual event right after he finished his speech to say she thinks he sucks (i.e. loud in clear in public regardless of whether or not anyone else wanted to hear her), vice saying something in a pseudo-public venue like Twitter where someone had to seek out her comment to even know about it. And then try to abuse government power to hold her accountable which was essentially an attempt to intimidate her and anyone else who might think of doing the same thing. Trying to stereotype me as a tween was yet another sad and irrational attempt to engage in an ad-hominem attack.

I haven’t read exactly why the student feels the Gov sucks; perhaps he does. But what concerns me are some of the comments made about Republicans. This guy appears to have screwed up in spending tax payer’s money monitoring student remarks and then pressuring a school (public/union school officials also suck) and deserves criticism. However, apparently Dems conveniently forget the liberal pressure to end talk radio via the Fairness Doctrine. Not exactly a shining example of promoting free speech. No sir, plenty enough sorry liberals out there trying their best to impose their (communist) will upon citizens. Criticize as needed but do it realizing the finger points in many directions. The kid in the article, seldom do kids have a proper perspective of life and as such, aren’t a great source of wisdom. Catch back up with her when she’s weighed under by reality, of responsibility, of paying Fed income tax; say about 40. In the meantime, I’m sure she’ll get the praise and attention of many Marxist college professors. Probablly will receive a scholly for her achievement.

TOM: “Knightrider. Read her quote.” – - – If by “her quote” you mean her Twitter comment, I have read it. Several times. I ALSO read the other qoute that puts her twitter comment IN CONTEXT. You now, the commeent I have quoted at least three times now, as in the quote in the story that reads, “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.” See, that second quote puts her tweet IN CONTEXT. It is amazing to me how many people, especially conservatives, who don’t seem to understand this issue about context when it comes to correctly interpreting the meaning of language. The full/complete meaning of language, even in written form, goes way beyond the literal meaning of the words. My guess is that is a bad habit that comes from too much practice applying a narrow litteral interpretation to the Bible. But that is a whole different debate for an entirely different story/forum.

It simply amazes me when I hear the total disrespect Repubolicans have for the office of president of the United States. Regardless if the occupant is a democrat or republican the total lack of respect coming from the republicans is so far in excess of what this girl said. I guess they feel she should be better than all of them because it doesn’t matter if they are disrespectful or what they say, only some who says something against someone they do not like.

FEDUP_11: “However, apparently Dems conveniently forget the liberal pressure to end talk radio via the Fairness Doctrine.” – - – Oh please, that is only another sad red herring. Plus, it is a ludicrously innacurate mischaracterization. The Fairness Doctrine would not end anything, at least not from what I understand about it. As I understand it the Fairness Doctrine would only require stations to provide time for someone else to do a show that corrects the lies, false facts, distortions, and misrepresentations that some shows fabricate/present. Since the Doctrine would apply EQUALLY AND FAIRLY to both liberal and conservative shows it could in fact result in fairness because BOTH sides would get an opportunity to respond to propaganda and correct it. The only thing it might end is the endless lying and perversion of the truth because hosts would then have an incentive to not present their biased ideological opinion as if it is fact because when they do that someone else will get an opportunity to set the record straight. I am willing to concede that I might not understand what the Fairness Doctrine would actually require since I hae not read it and so I am only working off of explanations I have heard. And speaking of irrational ad-hominem attacks. How does her tweeting to a friend that she thinks the governor sucks necessarily make her a Marxist? By that standard every single one of our Founding Fathers was a Marxist simply because they criticized the government.

As an overtaxed resident of Kansas I am appalled that Gov. Brownback has staffers browsing through faccebook and twitter. Gov. Brownback can troll facebook and twitter on his own time and his own money. Fire these staffers who are just messing around on the internet and save the taxpayers of Kansas some of their hard earned money.

@MST-MAC: “But nobody had a thing to say about that nitwit who told the President of the United States “You lie.” Freaking unbelievable.”

Actually, they did; the Left was quite upset about it at the time. MSNBC certainly raked him over the coals. Yet, Joe was right, wasn’t he? History has proven so; people are losing their private insurance left and right and can’t keep their doctors. Obama WAS lying. In fact, everything the Right warned about ObamaCare is coming true, right down to the death panels – the first of which, the Indpendent Payment Advisory Board was just created.

Will history bear out her “you suck” wisdom? Probably not; it wasn’t very wise. And that would be the difference. She’s just an idiot. She sucks. There, I said it. Does that make me a genius?

That girl is so disrespectful and unamerican to say such a thing about a politician. I’m going back to my Fox news site now to compare Obama to Hitler or Stalin because he is the antichrist.

JROBINSON: ‘You can pretend all you want that there is no difference between twitter and face to face, but that’s just an idiotic statement.” – - – No, your inability to understand the distinction is what is idiotic. I am not pretending anything. I really can understand the differences. I really can see colors ior many many shades of grey nstead of only black and white. If I SAY something in public loud enough for other people to hear me they cannot choose to NOT hear me. We do not come with an off switch for our hearing. They can choose to ignore what I say, but they cannot not hear me if I speak loudly enough. They do not have to make a proactive effort to hear me. Now, if I am trying to speak softly enough so that only the person I am speaking to can hear me then someone else would have to proactively make an effort to eavesdropo. DITTO for Twitter. NOBODY sees/reads anything on Twitter UNLESS they choose to find it, or UNLESS they choose to read it in the event they get something from someone they are following. THAT is what makes Twitter and other social media a psuedo-public conversational medium. Nobody is part of a conversation in Twitter unless they CHOOSE to become either an active or passive participant. So, YES, there is a difference between a face to face conversation and a Twitter conveersation. Another distinction is that there is a difference between wanting others to hear me and not carring if others hear me. Another difference, albeit another irrelevant difference for this issue, is that a face to face conversation is not permanent unless someone records it in some way. Besides, that is still all a red herring when the most important issue here is the government trying to interfere with free speech. Whether or not Emma was disrespectful or petulant is irrelevant to the primary issue as long as she was not an employee of the Governor, or not acting in an official capacity for the organzation sponsering the event, or not acting in an official capacity for the school. She was just a young adult making a silly comment to her friend and anyone else who CHOSE to read it. If the Governor’s Director of Communication had NOT made an issue of this then almost NONE OF US WOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT IT.

The limited education that a high school student possesses should be more then apparent when the best descriptive words they can find to use are “suck”.

Teenagers aren’t typically known for their diplomacy. Maturity will bring wisdom. Hence the reason why Brownback’s office should have ignored the “tweet”.

Although I do feel if the young lady was there to represent the school at a function, she should have – at a minimum – shown respect for the office of governor. -

Most kinds don’t have that kind of formal upbringing.

Too many Governors being TWITTERPATED I think!!!!!!

Brownback should have just borrowed oBama’s Attack Watch website…. or is oBama still using it?

My vocabulary is more than decent by anyone educational standards and I agree with her that Governor Brownback sucks. The damage Governor Brownback experienced over this was self-inflicted.

Funny how this never happens when there is a Democrat Governor.

Emma…….you did a good thing. Now what I’d like for you and your fellow students to do is to study the Constitution. There’s much more there than just free speech. The Constitution is the life blood of America. Obama is doing everything he can to destroy and nullify that document. We cannot allow him to do that. Study the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. It’s so important that you do that so no one in the future will ever be able to take your God given rights away from you. And tell everyone you come in contact with to NOT vote for Obama next year. America as you and I have known it hangs in the balance. Again I am proud of you for standing up for what is right. “It is easy to dodge our responsibilities but we CANNOT dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.”

Ya ! go ahead, everybody get on “Tweeter and “Face book” let the world know all ! You people need to get a life.

“n the end that’s all she is: a stupid, petulant, coward. And the way all you lefties are coming to her defense here, unleashing your own cowardly petulance – she’s not alone.”

Well done, Right Wing. You sure showed her. I’m glad you found the strength within yourselves to stand up to that mean, scary, bad old teenager who hurt and frightened you by saying that someone who slashes important funding, has anti-American theocratic psychopathic views, and a contempt for you and the middle class… kind of blows.

I’m sorry you had to deal with that. It must have been rough. What other option is there but to lash out in rage at even the tiniest slight from the most non-threatening of targets? You sort of have to be thin-skinned when your opinions are based entirely on faith, tradition, and a fear of individual authority without a father figure telling you what to think and do.

So again, I’m sorry you were so wounded.

“Liberals accused Brownback’s team and the principal for stifling free speech.”

I particularly love this line. Liberals? Only liberals? There wasn’t a single conservative out there who felt that Brown’s use of their taxpayer dollars to scan the internet for comments about him was a waste and trampling a teenager’s right to free speech was unacceptable?

I find that difficult to believe.