TV Quote of the Day (‘Veep,’ As Selina Endures Meme Mortification)

Vice President Selina Meyer [played by Julia Louis-Dreyfuss]: “What are you laughing about, Jolly Green Jizzface?”

Jonah Ryan [played by Timothy Simons]: “I was…” [Stammering] “Sorry, ma'am.”

Selina: “God damn, why are you even here?”

Jonah: “Oh, I came here to tell you that you're a meme, ma'am.”

Selina: “I'm a meme ma'am? What are you talking about? Speak English, boy.”

Jonah: “A meme, an Internet phenomenon.”

Amy Brookheimer [played by Anna Chlumsky] [confirming this at her computer]: “Okay, yes. There are Photoshopped versions of this springing up all over Twitter.” [Images start flashing on her screen of Selina typing on her cellphone.] “You at the Declaration of Independence... Oh, my God: With Mary Magdalene at the crucifixion…the 2004 tsunami….”

Gary Walsh [played by Tony Hale]: “If there was a tsunami, you'd be genuinely looking at your phone 'cause you'd be checking the weather.”

Selina: “You know what? I don't need you to talk.” [Gary looks abashed. Then, Selina, back to the whole staff]: “How do we stop this ‘meme ma'am’ shit?”

Jonah: “No, it's just a meme, ma'am. Not a ‘meme ma'am.’” [Selina is stupefied.]  “And usually they flame out after about 48 hours, but sometimes they blow up and become a super meme like Downfall or Gangnam.”

Gary: “I love Gangnam.”

Selina [turning on him]: “What did I just say?”

Jonah: “If it gets on Reddit or Tumblr, that can happen.”

Selina: “Yeah, okay. You've got to get out of here, okay? Take all these meaningless syllables with you and just get out.”— Veep, Season 2, Episode 4, “The Vic Allen Dinner,” original air date May 5, 2013, teleplay by Simon Blackwell and Armando Iannucci, directed by Chris Addison

Selina’s acute embarrassment over becoming an object of Internet ridicule was just a small preview of what befell Chris Christie four years later after an ill-advised trip to the beach, or Andrew Cuomo a month ago as he walked outside the governor's mansion in Albany wrapped in a blanket. (At least Bernie Sanders was able to turn all those mitten memes to political gold by helping to raise $1.8 million for charity.)

The latest politician to suffer meme mortification: Matt Gaetz. (The best ones I’ve seen of the belligerent and beleaguered Florida congressman have likened him to a Sixties sitcom character—or, as my good friend Rob put it: “He’s like Eddie Munster, only older and more dangerous.”)