Mike Pence, governor of Indiana, is a Republican who has made opposition to same-sex marriage an important part of his platform. On June 26^th he posted a statement on his gubernatorial Facebook page expressing disappointment in the Supreme Court’s overturning DOMA (the so-called Defense of Marriage Act).

“Now that the Supreme Court has had its say on the federal government’s role in defining marriage, the people of Indiana should have their say about how marriage is understood and defined in our state,” he said. “I am confident that Hoosiers will reaffirm our commitment to traditional marriage… I look forward to supporting efforts by members of the Indiana General Assembly to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot for voter consideration next year.”

Last time I looked, Facebook showed 1,917 comments on that particular post. But actually, more people commented. Many comments from Hoosiers who disagreed with the governor on gay marriage were deleted.

The Indianapolis Star asked Pence about this. He said if comments were removed, it was because they were rude. He said he welcomes “opinions on both sides of the debate.” But they have the usual rules about “name-calling and vulgar comments, and I’m confident our staff was just administrating that in the way that we do in any other debate.”

A Pence staffer said derogatory comments on both sides of the issue were removed. She gave “bigot” as an example of unacceptable name calling.

But people told the Star they had disagreed politely – yet their comments had been deleted. They took screen shots to show how they had posted respectful disagreements – and then those civilized and affable dissents had been disappeared. An exciting website, Pencership, sprang up and gave examples. (It also pointed out that Pence’s staff apparently did not view the comment, “Goodness me, you fairy’s are a bitchy lot arent you?” as name-calling or vulgar, leaving it untouched.)

After two days, Pence admitted that some comments had been deleted even though they were expressed disagreement perfectly politely. Another statement!

I believe that civility and respect for the opinion of others is essential to the democratic process. I also believe in the Freedom of Speech.

Over the past 24 hours, I became aware of concerns that comments responding to my statement of support for traditional marriage were being deleted from this Facebook page because they disagreed with my stated position.

Our longstanding policy… has been to delete inflammatory comments that include name-calling, vulgarity or comments personally insulting to others. It was my understanding that the comments which were deleted all met this standard.

On careful review, it appear that this was not always the case and some comments were being deleted simply because they expressed disagreement with my position. I regret that this occurred and sincerely apologize to all those who were affected.

I have instructed our staff to review our policy and develop a standard of conduct similar to that of other elected officials and news organizations in the days ahead. We will post that policy prominently on this site.

Hoosiers expect our public debate to be open and respectful and we will ever seek to live up to that standard. In agreement or disagreement, I respect the opinions and the freedoms of all the people of Indiana.

Doesn’t that sound like a good apology? He says he was wrong, and he will make it right! The word “apologize” appears! He’s all about respect.

Not so fast. It’s good to respect the opinions and freedoms of all Hoosiers. But he doesn’t take responsibility. He just says, “this occurred.” Hm, regrettable. And while he does owe an apology to “those who were affected,” he also owes one to anyone who read the comments and didn’t know they were getting a version censored for viewpoints as well as rudeness.

It might be true that zealous staff members were zapping dissident comments right and left without his knowledge. He’s busy and probably doesn’t look at the Facebook page himself. But he’s in charge, so when things are done badly, he should take some blame for that.

The revised policy doesn’t seem to have been posted yet. However the Facebook page is kind of amusing. It’s cheerful, with excellent photos of the governor doing such things touring Shakamak State Park, presenting awards to outstanding African-American Hoosiers, or giving a speech at the Chamber of Commerce. He appears to be a man with a good haircut and a fine roster of neckties.

The comments now lean heavily towards those that might be made by a swarm of gnats in rainbow tutus. Here we see a picture of the governor with a bunch of smiling children of many races. “I hope none of those children are gay” says a commenter, saying that if so they will want to leave the state at 18 to go somewhere with a better human rights record. Nowhere do the words “bigot” or “jerkface” appear.

Here’s a website for the “Cut Red Tape Initiative.” First comment: “Hey Governor…I’ve got a red tape you can cut: Your war on equal rights…”

Further down someone is calling the governor an idiot and a “Charlatan creep,” so I guess the staff have just thrown up their hands until they get a new policy.

Another great photo shows a beaming Pence with giant shears at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Prophetstown State Park Aquatic Center. There are 9 comments: 2 about marriage equality, 3 invoking God for unspecified reasons, 1 anti-Fox News, 1 thanking Pence for his leadership, 1 complaining that Indiana is disrespected as a flyover state, and my favorite, “Godd grief someone get those children away fromn that maniac with those scissors!!”

In 2009, while in Congress, Pence told Chris Matthews that he doesn’t believe in global warming. Or, apparently, evolution, or any need for embryonic stem cell research. Research advances may make him right on that last one. The global warming one is nasty – Pence was in the GOP’s “American Energy Solutions Group,” so it’s not just a matter of having a wishful, mistaken belief and citing non-existent evidence for it. It’s a matter of influencing present actions that will affect everyone in the future. For example, all children, whether or not their parents are in a “traditional” marriage.

Charlatan creep.