Of all the memes and internet inside jokes spawned by the long-gestating presidential election on Nov. 6, the liveliest one involves New York Times statistical prognosticator Nate Silver — arguably the campaign's most celebrated and controversial figure not named Barack or Mitt. Silver got a lot of flak from Mitt Romney supporters and more gut-based political commentators, but he correctly predicted how all 50 states would vote, and came within a hair of calling the popular vote. So on Nov. 7, after the eerie accuracy of Silver's data model became clear — and Silver informed his readers that he was "going to get some sleep and grab a beer" — campaign consultant Dan Levitan mocked Silver's seeming compulsion to issue forecasts, tweeting: "Drunk Nate Silver is riding the subway, telling strangers the day they will die." Twitter took over from there:
"Drunk Nate Silver, updating the Wikipedia page of the 8 year-old who'll win the 2052 election"
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"Drunk Nate Silver crashing weddings, yelling out the number of years until divorce"
"Drunk Nate Silver stumbles over to people singing, 'Hey, I just met you. And this is crazy. But isn't this your number?'"
"Drunk Nate Silver sends you a text at 2:00 am that says 'It's 9:32 am.' And that's when you read it."
– Shelby
"Drunk Nate Silver looking at the Mayan calendar, shaking his head calmly, X'ing out Dec 21 and circling Dec 31"
"Drunk Nate Silver points at the night sky. The star he is pointing at flickers then dies."
"Drunk Nate Silver counting out exactly five hundred and thirty-eight french fries at McDonalds, then slowly dipping 206 of them in ketchup"
"Drunk Nate Silver changes a broken light bulb and mutters to himself, 'one person'"
"Drunk Nate Silver wanders supermarket aisles with a sharpie, changing expiration dates"
"Drunk Nate Silver waits 20 minutes for the G train, nods silently when it arrives, walks out of the station"
"Drunk Diane Sawyer points at drunk Nate Silver. 'YOUUUUU' she says. 'Youuuuuuu.' Drunk Nate Silver giggles. Drunk Diane Sawyer giggles."
"Drunk Nate Silver predicted 'Drunk Nate Silver' would become a meme two weeks ago"
"Drunk Nate Silver knows exactly how long Drunk Nate Silver meme will be funny"
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