If you have any sort of semi-public job in the 21st century, you need to make a decision: Never conduct any sort of search for your name online, or get over the fact that people will say mean things about you.
Personally, I try to limit my own vanity searches, and when I do find a suggestion online about what I should do to myself, or an amateur assessment of my intelligence, I make an attempt to brush it off.
While Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback spent time in both the U.S. House and the Senate, and has been governor for nearly a year, he's still a little too sensitive.
Emma Sullivan, an 18-year-old attending Shawnee Mission East High School, sent out a tweet while listening to Gov. Brownback at an event. In the tweet, she mentioned her belief, in convenient hashtag form, that "#heblowsalot."
It's no surprise that someone in Brownback's office has a Twitter search set up for his name and saw the tweet—but most people smart enough to get a job in a governor's office should realize that a comment sent by a high school senior to her 65 followers is probably not worth making a fuss over. However, there was no such sensibility over at Brownback's office, which shook down the school in an attempt to get a written apology from Sullivan. The story, of course, ended up online, and now Brownback looks like a whiner running to the principal because someone called him a name.
Note to those with political aspirations: Resist the temptation to fight off the haters. It's a battle you can only lose.
The week on The Range
We watched as Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords served Thanksgiving dinner to Davis-Monthan airmen alongside her husband, Mark Kelly; told you how Sen. Jon Kyl helped torpedo the Super Committee; complained about the state putting extra patrols on the highway during Thanksgiving weekend; and brought you dispatches from Occupy Tucson.
We broke down a number of poll results, including the news that Giffords' popularity was high among voters, even though many of them were skeptical about whether she should seek another term; Gov. Jan Brewer's popularity was on the decline; voters were unhappy with Brewer's removal of Independent Redistricting Commission chairwoman Colleen Mathis, although they did not support recalling Brewer; voters were happy to see state Sen. Russell Pearce get recalled; Sen. John McCain was the most-unpopular senator in America; and SB 1070 remained popular.
We watched Larry David kvetch about his childhood Thanksgiving; continued to share our love of Community; looked forward to the Great Cover-Up, coming Dec. 15 through 17 at Club Congress, Plush and the Rialto Theatre; let you know about the food-truck roundups being held on Monday nights at Dinnerware Artspace; gave you ideas about how to enjoy Thanksgiving; expressed our general disgust with Nickelback; realized that our cancelled soap operas were not going to find an online home; talked about comic books, including the Feeding Ground graphic novel; watched penguins jump and swim; expressed our thanks for alcohol-infused whipped cream; and did our best to ignore Black Friday.
Comment of the week
"Rich Rodriguez is the perfect coach for Arizona. He's a douchebag who is out for himself and wouldn't hesitate to throw his team under the bus for a better position."
—At least one (and pretty much only one) person, TucsonWeekly.com commenter "drgarnett," decided to side with Jimmy Boegle's assessment of Arizona's new football coach ("Cheater Hire," Editor's Note, Nov. 24).
Best of WWW
We enjoy local music here at the Tucson Weekly, so it's always nice to find a way to promote bands in Tucson doing interesting things online. On each Monday during the month of December, we'll have a single (if that's what you call these things anymore) from local instrumental-rock act Sleep Driver's new EP, Signals, available for download on The Range. No catch—just free songs from a band you'll likely enjoy if you own music by Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Explosions in the Sky.
If you like what you hear, feel free to buy the rest of the EP online or in limited-edition-CD form, and check out the band on Jan. 6 at Club Congress.
