UPDATE: Maddow has posted a misleading tweet trying to cover up her mistake. See after the jump.
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Another embarrassing mistake by Rachel Maddow. This time Rachel has revealed her unfamiliarity with some simple world geography. On her MSNBC show this evening, discussing President Obama's impending trip to one of the Baltic states--Estonia--Maddow told anecdotes of "the last time a US President visited the Balkans." Whoops!
Maddow waxed on about how the last time an American president visited the "Balkans," it was George W., visiting Albania. Rachel recounted the story of how W's wrist-watch disappeared when he waded into a crowd of Albanian well-wishers. With malicious glee, Maddow mentioned that in honor of his visit, the Albanians erected a tall statue of W with a "teeny, teeny, teeny, tiny little head." How tiny must a melon be not to contain the difference between the Balkans and the Baltics? View the video after the jump.
Marvel at Maddow's most recent mistake.
Note: Maddow's blooper came in a segment ironically entitled "Debunktion Junktion," dedicated to debunking myths. Let's debunk this one: no, Rachel, Albania is not a Baltic state.
RACHEL MADDOW: Next up, the last time a U.S. President visited the Balkans was when George W. Bush visited Albania in 2007. The thing most people remember about that last trip by a US president to the Balkans is that it resulted in this 9 1/2-foot tall statue being erected by the Albanian government to honor President Bush. It shows George W. Bush over nine-feet tall with pleated pants and a teeny, teeny, teeny tiny little head. But beyond the giant statue that they built of him in Albania, is it true or is it false that the last trip by a U.S. president to the Balkans also included him having his watch stolen while he was there? . . . President Bush didn't lose the watch, so much as he took it off himself and maybe stuffed it in his own pocket or maybe he gave it to a bodyguard to hold. And anyway, they say he didn't get it stolen. It is basically the only thing you'll find if you try to Google anything about the last time a US president went to the Balkans . . .
But it is to replace headlines like those with something more memorable. The president is due to be wheels-down in Estonia very shortly. It's about 10 Eastern Time tomorrow morning that he's going to be addressing US troops who are stationed in Estonia, now in part to remind Russia that the full force of NATO really is right there on their doorstep. That speech is scheduled for the 10 AM Eastern hour tomorrow. It will be worth watching if you have been curious to see what it looks like when this president rattles a saber.
UPDATE: After the show, Maddow posted the tweet below. She "didn't mean to imply" that Estonia is in the Balkans? Really? Then why speak three times of "the last time a President went to the Balkans" and discuss W's trip to Albania, a Balkan nation?
Come on, Rachel. We all make mistakes. Have the gumption to own up to this one.
