It all began when New York Times political reporter and former fashion correspondent Michael Barbaro noticed Rubio’s quality taste in footwear.
— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) January 4, 2016
The media quickly went into a frenzy, apparently having nothing better to do. An extensive analysis was even provided by the New York Times.
“This is straight out of an Austin Powers movie,” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough commented during an entire segment dedicated to the boots. “They’re shagalicious!”
Low-polling presidential candidate Carly Fiorina even got in a jab, tweeting a photo of her own boots and asking if Rubio could pull them off.
— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) January 6, 2016
Rubio responded to the madness on Thursday at a campaign stop, appropriately asking the world to do a quick reality check.
“Let me get this right,” he began. “ISIS is cutting people’s heads off, setting people on fire in cages, Saudi Arabia and Iran on the verge of a war, the Chinese are landing airplanes on islands that they built and say belong to them and what are international waters and in some ways territorial waters, our economy is flat-lined, the stock market is falling apart, but boy are we getting a lot of coverage about a pair of boots. This is craziness. Have people lost their minds?”
"As sartorial politics go, bootgate has eclipsed any other fashion story of the election thus far, including any fashion story related to the two female candidates, Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina,” the Gray Lady wrote in their featured story.
