Why the Romney T-shirt teacher doesn't need to apologize*
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Why the Romney T-shirt teacher doesn't need to apologize*
“The President has stripped his events of anyone who might disagree with him, which is completely un-American. It is dangerous for a President to be the bubble boy of American politics. But it might explain why the President can’t admit the problems of people without jobs, without health care, without prescription drugs, or trying to put their kids through college. He doesn’t know about them because he refuses to even see them."
I couldn't agree with that comment more...today, or when it was uttered, about then-President George W. Bush and his campaign, by then-DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe. The incident that inspired that comment happened in Medford, Ore., eight years ago this month, when three women were barred from a Bush rally for wearing T-shirts that read "Protect Our Civil Liberties." And that was not an isolated event. Even after Bush was re-elected, in early 2005, the White House barred certain folksfrom a rally in Fargo, N.D., because they had the audacity to belong to a local chapter of (heh) Democracy for America. (The link is from Fox News, so it must be true.)
I remember this era well because it was in 2004 that I started blogging and in February 2005 -- the same month as the fiasco in Fargo -- that I launched Attytood. And frankly, these kind of clampdowns on free speech are exactly the thing that radicalized me after two decades of struggling, and often succeeding, to be a journalist with the opinion side of his brain castrated (is that a mixed metaphor?). I started feeling differently not long after 9/11 -- starting with Ari Fleischer telling me I had to watch what I said and with Congress passing the Patriot Act to find out what was in it, and amped up by a magnitude of 100 when the Iraq War lies started flowing. There were things happening in this country that "he said, she said" journalism was powerless to stop. And these restrictions on the ability of Americans to speak their mind freely sickened me more than just about anything.
The other day, I got that sickening feeling (no relation to this) all over again. This time, it was from reading news accounts right here in Philadelphia that a 17-year-old high school student had been mocked and riduculed by her geometry teacher for wearing a Romney-Ryan T-shirt, who told her to remove the shirt and who likened the GOP ticket to the KKK.
My first thought that this was every bit as bad as the Bush-era campaign rally incidents that I had written about seven or eight years ago. But then I realized that in some ways this is worse. Those earlier abuses happened at political events, where, unfortunately, we've learned to expect tomfoolery. This was coming from a teacher at a school -- where kids are supposed to learn how to formulate their own opinions on the world...and then express them. Where young people should learn (despite what they say deep in the heart of Texas) critical thinking. And where they also find out that the First Amendment can indeed make America exceptional...if we can keep it.
My initial reaction over the weekend also was that not only should the teacher -- who's tried very badly to explain this as a joke gone awry -- apologize but that Mayor Nutter should add this as a stop on what feels like a non-stop, city-wide apology tour. Those things happened more or less, but they did not send a strong enough message about free speech and public education. I headlined this blog post "Why the Romney T-shirt teacher doesn't need to apologize"...followed by an asterisk.
The asterisk stand for...because Lynette Gaymon should be fired, for turning a public classroom into a no-free-speech zone. End of story.
I was reminded of the incident 10 days ago at Philadelphia's Puerto Rican Day Parade where a cop who'd been squirted by water slapped and knocked down a woman who, to make matters even worse, seemed to have nothing to do with the incident. The police commissioner looked at the video, thought about it for a day or two...and moved to fire the offending lieutenant. Well, Lynette Gaymon slapped the First Amendment and knocked it to the ground. Short of physical violence or sexual abuse, it's hard to imagine worse behavior from a teacher.
Which is why an apology should be too little and too late to save her job.
I'd encourage you to. All the details aren't out, but it doesn't look good. First, there were numerous requests to increase security at the consulate that were denied. Then, the administration was either clueless or lying about the details of the attack for weeks, while the Libyian gov't and news orgs reported the truth.
Listen to this mealy mouthed spin:
"The State Department officials downplayed earlier assertions that the anti-Muslim film was a trigger for the violence. "That is the question that you would have to ask others. That was not our conclusion, that's not saying we had a conclusion, but we outlined what happened," one official said."
What a crock, Susan Rice certainly went on the Sunday shows and blamed it on the film. The president and Hilary both isued statements connecting the attack with the film.
— RG- Ms Gaymon took the day off yesterday to avoid giving a necessary apology. She may need to take today off for the same reason. By this logic, her only way to save face is to resign. People unable to act wih basic propriety have no business teaching young people.— DonQ
- She's still apparently trying to insist this was just a 'joke' gone wrong. It's ok though, since Jerry Jordan supports the abuse of a young woman as long as it keeps the union dues flowing and he can maintain his lifestyle. — bil,l atkins
- "If Slavery Were So Godawful, Why Didn’t Jesus Condemn It?" - Arkansas GOP Representative Loy Mauch. I'm sorry, was someone saying something about the racist GOP?— CiceroSpuriousDeodatusTheSecond
- "Fan of common sense which her parents apparently lack."
Yes, her parents let her dress herself, which means they lack common sense. What a sick, twisted mentality in which the victim is blamed.— RG - If you truly believe she picked the shirt with no influence by her parents political beliefs, you are truly clueless. — chasing history
- And you know for certain, right chasinghistail? Why do you hate young people making up their own minds on issues, tail? Is it your inner fascist that can't handle people daring to hold a point of view different from your own? — bil,l atkins
- She picked the shirt because she wanted to be the "edgy" kid in her class and have everyone look at her. She has no clue what Romney or Obama's positions are on any issue. Again, the parents fail the common sense test much like you. — chasing history
- chasinghistory - you're an idiot. do you know her or her parents personally? doubt it, just on here making assumptions about an innocent, teenage victim. how do you know she doesnt know anything about romney or obama's positions? i said above, you must be 1 of those parents that walk your kids on a leash, an obama '12 leash — jay36
- Imagine my shock. I figured I'd open up this Attytood thread to find RG, being that he's a man of "principle," absolutely beside himself that Romney gave his "major speech" advocating a far more interventionist foreign policy than that of the current administration. In fact, Romney stated that the major distinction of his administration would be that it would be more interventionist.
And instead of being "concerned" about Romney's interventionism, I find RG seeking to exploit the attack on the Libyan embassy for the purpose of venting his animus towards Obama. Imagine my surprise.
Too funny.— Talking point sleuth - Imagine my shoch over TPS' outrage over a stump speech instead of the actual words and actions conveying either dishonesty or incompetence from the admin in regards to the death of American diplomats.
Zero principles. Zero.— RG - As a reminder, Obama is the sitting president. When he and his adminsitration either lie to the public, or are simply shown to be incompetent when getting the details of an attack on our consulate, yeah its a big deal.— RG
- Imagine my shock that RG doubles-down on his "concern" about Libya while ducking Romney's interventionism (that goes along with his association with advisors and a Party that launched two wars, initiated drone policies, etc.).
What a surprise!— Talking point sleuth - Good job, Bunch. I like it, a fellow Dem showing some cajones. Actually, you went further than I, I would have suspended her without pay until next school year.— tudorcity
- Imagine my surprise that TPS continues to ignore the record of the sitting president in a desperate attempt to gin up fear about the other candidate.— RG
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