Once again, Diane Sawyer helped to lead ABC's Election Night coverage, and once again, she appeared entirely intoxicated while doing so. At least, that's what Twitter thought. As the last of the polls closed on Tuesday night, "Diane Sawyer" became a trending topic and not in a good way. John Gruber who runs the blog Daring Fireball tweeted, "Swear to god, Diane Sawyer is drunker than I am." The popular 90s band They Might Be Giants chimed in, "And Diane Sawyer declares tonight's winner is... chardonnay!" New York Times media report Brian Stelter cut Sawyer some slack, "Diane Sawyer's name is trending. Many people saying she seems drunk on air. Alternative theory: she gets this way when she's really tired."

Stelter's on to something. We've seen Diane Sawyer in this state before. The night after Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009, Sawyer appeared pretty cheerful on Good Morning America. She also had a hard time putting sentences together which led many to draw the conclusion that she was still drunk from the night before. Then, like now, we're not sure the slurred words and excessive smiles are necessarily proof that Sawyer had done some drinking, but she does look a little bit out of character. Oh well. We all do weird things when we're tired.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Adam Clark Estes