'Don't give me sympathy,' Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder tells fellow governors at national conference

"Many governors came up to express sympathy to me," Snyder said today in a speech to local business leaders in Washtenaw County. "They actually came up and said, 'You're the governor of Michigan, good luck.' And I said, 'What do you mean? You're a governor, too'"

Snyder, former Ann Arbor venture capitalist, said he cleared the air later during a private session as the governors huddled around a large table and took turns speaking.

"When it got to Michigan, I said, 'We have been at the bottom for 10 years or longer compared to everybody else, but I don't want anybody's sympathy,'" Snyder said. "I said, 'We're coming back, we're proud of who we are, and we're going to make this happen.'

"So I said, 'Don't give me sympathy.'"

Snyder's comments seemed to echo the recent Chrysler Super Bowl commercial featuring rapper Eminem — but he drove away today in a black Chevrolet Suburban, not a Chrysler.