“
When big news happens in other states, people say, 'Oh my goodness!' or 'What the-?"
But we Floridians will scan a story or click over to CNN or Fox and mutter to ourselves, 'Okay, where's the Florida connection?'
We do this because we know that any big story is likely to have a link to America's strangest state. A guy lands a gyrocopter at the Capitol to protest campaign finance laws? He's a Floridian. A Major League Baseball doping scandal? The clinic was in Florida. The 9/11 hijackers got their flight training here. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, President George W. Bush was reading a story about a heroic goat to Florida schoolchildren. Who gave special prosecutor Ken Starr permission to dig into President Bill Clinton's affair with an intern? Attorney General Janet Reno, a Florida native. Remember the 1972 Watergate break-in that brought down Richard Nixon? Guess where the burglars were from.
”
”
Craig Pittman (Oh, Florida!: How America's Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country)