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January 31, 2013 at 12:22 PM

Snarky social media critiques of state Legislature

Corrected version

Beware the Undead. Especially in Olympia.

The anonymous satirical blog Undead Olympia is head clown in a snarky, funny class of social media commentary that has emerged this Legislative session. The blog first arose from the grave in 2011 to skewer state budget cuts. On its about page:

With our State Legislators ready to drive people closer to the grave, it’s critical that we hear from the other side — the other side of the grave.

This year they’re wielding its sharp clever widely, mocking Gov. Jay Inslee’s Alfred E. Neuman-style as “inhumanly optimistic.” They jumped on the AP reporter Mike Baker’s story about Legislators’ expenses to suggest Sen. Rodney Tom, the Medina Democrat who engineered a Republican coup in the Senate, bought Bose noise-cancelling headphones to “ease the cognitive dissonance of his position on issues like education, reproductive rights, and himself.”

The worked overtime to compile a video mash-up of Sen. Pam Roach’s defense against charges that she verbally abuses staff. Call Roach “The Rambler.”

Bless the people with too much spare time.

Add to that list the folks who compile selected quotes from Inslee, whose affable malaprops seems destined for a wing in the George W. Bush-isms hall of fame. The @jaysgenius feed on Twitter is worth subscribing to.

And…

Tom is the target at King Tom Watch, a website and Twitter feed which portrays Tom as a self-anointed king heading a court of conservative jesters.

“I’m excited about this new direction for Washington, because I’m in charge,” said King Tom in his triumphant remarks. “By making me your King, you have ensured that the smartest, fittest, best qualified, and most utterly handsome member of the Senate is now in charge. And I should know.”

Information in this blog post, originally published on Jan. 31, 2013 at 12:22 p.m., was corrected at 2:48 p.m. The name of Alfred E. Neuman was misspelled in the earlier version. 

Comments | More in | Topics: Jay Inslee, Rodney Tom, Washington State Legislature

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