Apparently, former Virginia Sen. George Allen, currently vying with former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine for the chance to reclaim his seat from the outgoing Jim Webb, gave a "townhall meeting" yesterday that was streamed live over Facebook. We're sure that was awesome for the 35 or so people who are said to have tuned in for the event. But it's what happened after the meeting had concluded, and Allen thought the cameras were off (because he was told they were), that has people buzzing today.
After taking a long pause to stare at the camera, wondering what to do next, Allen is told that the session is over and the camera is off. Spoiler alert: it's not off! And so Allen keeps on talking. (Before you ask: no, Allen did not use any obscure racial epithets.)
ALLEN: All right, did that one take or not?
OFFSCREEN VOICES: It took. They were having server problems ... the live stream was ...
ALLEN: Reindeers in the server? Elves?
OFFSCREEN VOICES: [titters]
ALLEN: Oh, God. Torturous. [Unintelligible.] Great spontaneity, take three!
OFFSCREEN VOICE: (Sighs.) It's very nervewracking.
ALLEN: How do you reckon it was for me? (Sarcastically) Let's do this tomorrow!
The incident has earned mockery from the folks at Blue Virginia, and generally, it's being reported that it's not at all a good thing to be caught admitting that talking to Virginia voters is like torture. For their part, Allen's press shop is saying that "he was frustrated [because] staff couldn’t confirm if technical difficulties [with Facebook] townhall prevented people from viewing."
Anyway, watching streaming townhall videos on Facebook isn't exactly anyone else's idea of a good time, either.
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