Florida tried to have a debate of the real issues between Governor Rick Scott and his opponent Charlie Crist, but it was thwarted by a fan. No, not a human fan of either politician, but a mechanical fan under Charlie Crist's podium. The Scott campaign didn't want the fan to be there, so the Governor refused to come onstage for many minutes, leaving Crist to just smile at the audience while the question panel seemed in a quandary about what to do next. Finally Scott stumbled onto the stage with some lame excuse, but it was too late. The Twitterverse had coined #Fangate and #Fantrum, and the rest is part of Florida election history.
Basically, Governor Scott beclowned himself with a fan.
The best part of tonight was @CharlieCrist's heroic effort to keep a straight face #FanGate pic.twitter.com/BJFaOBh5I8
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) October 16, 2014
From NPR
Viewers who tuned in Wednesday night to watch Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Crist (once a Republican, now a Democrat) instead saw an empty stage, with moderators explaining about "an extremely peculiar situation." Within seconds Crist strode out and spent the next several minutes lamenting Scott's absence, and how it was ridiculous to argue over the fan at the base of Crist's podium when Florida faced so many important issues, before Scott finally joined him and the debate began.
But what TV viewers didn't know was that Scott's campaign was so agitated about the fan that it was demanding the event be canceled and that the TV station providing the live feed not proceed with the broadcast.
"Why? Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine," Wendy Walker, head of one of the debate's co-sponsors, Leadership Florida, told NPR Friday. "They had a bee in their bonnets about the fan.... I said, guys, do you want the story to be the fan?"
@CharlieCrist found a way to "blow away" his competition. @FLGovScott makes it sooo easy. #fangate pic.twitter.com/mqQU9M69gz
— Badlifestyle (@Badlifestyle) October 17, 2014From the Miami Herald
“It was a missed opportunity. It was very odd,” said Fort Lauderdale lawyer Ed Pozzuoli, a Scott ally and former Broward County GOP chairman who echoed numerous Republicans. “Gov. Scott has a record that he needs to extol at every opportunity, and the only thing being discussed now is the fan.”
. . . Scott didn’t show until 7:07. He told CNN’s Wolf BlitzerThursday that he was told not to go on stage by “organizers.”
Rather than staging a brief boycott, Pozzuoli said, Scott should have used humor to defuse the controversy: “He would have gotten a lot more mileage out of it,” he said.
Instead, the flap became a social media punch line and the talk of morning cable TV shows. On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, viewers saw the video and an incredulous Mike Barnicle asked: “What’s wrong with these people? The governor of Florida demanding no fan?”
Scott tries to Gov-splain, but Fails:
The most incoherent 12 seconds ever uttered by a governor during a debate #Fl #FLGovDebate #FanYourGround #UniteBlue http://t.co/xNiWc34azR
— Sandy Auriene Sulli (@Axollot) October 16, 2014LOL Florida, bless your heart #fanyourground #fangate
http://t.co/duiEj3SyhW
— ahumma ije (@ejoema) October 16, 2014Both are #onlyinFlorida stories too RT @miason: Rick Scott's empty podium > Clint Eastwood's empty chair
— Eric Jotkoff (@Eric_Jotkoff) October 16, 2014The #FLGov story so big one hashtag couldn't contain it!
#Fangate
#Fantrum
#FanYourGround
#Fanghazi
#Fanpocalypse
#FLGovDebate
— Scott Wooledge (@Clarknt67) October 16, 2014@SnarkAmendment @codbiter #Fanpocolypse
— Count Billula (@tomservo10) October 16, 2014Jon Stewart thanks comedy gods for bringing him #fangate: http://t.co/RaSBdVEO9n pic.twitter.com/ljpVTGPG6S
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) October 17, 2014Watch Colbert on #fangate: "This being Florida, right off the bean, things got very Florida" http://t.co/O2uaQqTLhX pic.twitter.com/CTAWi9oSlJ
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) October 18, 2014. . . Why should Crist get to cool himself with a fan, but Scott isn't allowed to control his
~ Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central
We're all fans of @CharlieCrist! #Fangate #Fanghazi #Fantrum #Fantastic pic.twitter.com/NnlbFHTB0T
— Ali Akın Kurnaz (@AliAkinK) October 16, 2014#RickScott just lost his #FanClub
#Fantrum #FanYourGround
#Fanghazi #FLGovDebate pic.twitter.com/twdYOlZ7Qf
— Jeanne K. (@SnarkAmendment) October 16, 2014#YesWeFan pic.twitter.com/J7J7a3eVRe
— FL Democratic Party (@FlaDems) October 16, 2014He hates these FANS! (Paraphrasing The Jerk) #FLGovDebate #RickScott http://t.co/NhtB7i0iqm
— Jeanne K. (@SnarkAmendment) October 16, 2014
