Trying to unload an oil painting of Gov. Charlie Crist seems to have gotten mired in, well, politics.
The online auction site eBay yanked the Republican Party of Florida’s auction of an oil painting of Crist Wednesday, apparently reacting to political content attacking Crist in the party’s auction ad.
The ad was re-posted with the language removed, said RPOF spokeswoman Katie Gordon Betta, but the party lost nearly 100 bids on the painting, one of them for $6,200.
By late Wednesday, bidding was back up only to $1,125.
The original listing for the painting bashed Crist, saying his positions on political issues were false like the gilt-painted wood of the frame, and subject to fluctuations — “Canvas is naturally sensitive to changes of temperature and humidity, just as the Charlie Crist’s political convictions are subject to fluctuations in poll numbers.”
Betta hinted at some darker motive on eBay’s part:
“I find it strange that they suddenly found a problem with the listing two complete days after they published the listing to begin with, and after it’s been discussed in every paper in the state, on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, The Washington Times, The New York Times, and numerous local radio and television stations,” she said. Continue reading here.
