Here we have the kind of story-as-bad-metaphor through which reporters can freely pretend to see whatever they want to see: a broken urinal soaked the press gallery at the U.S. Capitol on Monday. National Journal's Billy House has the semi-apocalyptic report:

This splash came from an exploding urinal. More specifically, something suddenly broke in the piping of the third-floor urinal, and water began spewing from beneath the men's room door.

As the water flowed, it first surrounded the Associated Press's working area, then spread toward both ends of the gallery.

Throw in the detail that newspapers were used to sop up the mess, and the jokes almost write themselves. Ready? Auto-joke go! Is Congress peeing on the lamestream media? Are we soaking the press? Is our underfunded national infrastructure bursting like a rusty pipe? Is there a war on men? Is the fact that employees rushed to fix the problem a sign of bipartisan progress? Are you having fun yet?

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