Washington, D.C. has just endured a short earthquake, a 5.9 magnitude at its origin near Richmond, Virginia. In the well-built D.C. headquarters of Slate, the earthquake was experienced as 10 seconds of rumbling – like a Metro train passing underfoot – that disrupted absolutely nothing. No falling TVs, no cracked walls, no misaligned floors.
How quickly did the earthquake become a joke to the pundit class? It happened so fast that I never saw the pre-joke tweets or emails. For a long while after the rumbling happened, Twitter became a cornucopia for tomfoolery, revealing what various writers find funny.
Washington Post’s Dylan Matthews:
In retrospect, I resorted to cannibalism rather fast after the earthquake.
Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater:
Let’s send a clear message to earthquake: Go shopping and blast Lee Greenwood songs.
Author and speechwriter Matt Latimer:
That wasn’t an earthquake. God just watched Larry Crowne.
DCist blogger Martin Austermuhle:
On the very day that I left that painstakingly crafted 12-level house of cards on my dining room table. DAMN IT!
Huffington Post’s Radley Balko, one of the experts in the “wow, TV news about this is awfully stupid” genre:
Not a joke: CNN just reported what the earthquake felt like inside the courtroom at DSK hearing.
The Post’s Jennifer Rubin:
Joe Biden says he understands one earthquake policy.
