This thread went more or less entirely as expected.
I have no idea about the condition of the a/c. I start from the assumption that she was entitled to refuse it and so she did. Whether this refusal was wise, or consistent with other similar situations, few seem to have gotten around to discussing much.
Such refusals have occurred in the past, and they didn't end with the pilot being escorted out of the airport. So what's the difference here? Could it be the nature of the PAs provided to customers (which also have gone unremarked upon here)? Just a coincidence that US pilots have had a long-standing labor dispute with US (or more precisely, US pilots have had a long-standing dispute with former HP pilots)? Just a coincidence that the union took out a full-page ad to criticize the airline? Just a coincidence that the pilot involved was a higher-visibility, easier to defend (from a politically-correct POV) person?
I believe one is naive to believe this episode was unrelated to that dispute.