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News outlets and government officials are reacting swiftly to news of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami and tsunami alerts elsewhere in the world. But how they're reacting--well, that's another story. Some people are struggling to strike the right tone.

The State Department's P.J. Crowley: Mangled Analogy of the Day Early on Friday, the State Department spokesman tweeted, "We have been watching a hopeful tsunami sweep across the Middle East. Now we are seeing a tsunami of a different kind sweep across Japan." Perhaps in recognition of the fact that now is not the best time for questionable metaphors, the tweet has since been removed from Crowley's Twitter feed without explanation.

It's been a rough 24 hours for Crowley. At an intimate event on Thursday, he characterized the treatment of alleged Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning in the Navy brig in Quantico as "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid," though he added that Manning was "in the right place." The State Department says Crowley's comments reflect his personal opinion, not official U.S. policy.

Morning Joe: Distracted by the iPad TVNewser's Alex Weprin observes that while the MSNBC morning show did cover the earthquake in news updates and graphics, it "still dedicated a good chunk of its program to political coverage, including interviews with David Axelrod and Pat Buchanan, as well as a roundtable on the political showdown in Wisconsin." Time's James Poniewozik describes the affair as ahving a "bizarre, Casual-Friday tone, with Joe Scarborough bantering about the iPad 2 and the Vermont screensaver on his Blackberry."